Gasoline - Final Destination -
by BrunetteMarionette
Summary: No Accidents. No Coincidences. No Escapes. • "You are all apart of something great, yes you are giving up your lives, but it's all for the greater good." • "We're going to have so much fun together."
1. o n e

Watching Sam and Molly jokingly squabble about which seat they were going to take, Thana rolled her eyes. "Just _sit _down already," she groaned to herself, ready to be done with this.

Glancing around at all the people who were excitedly chattering to each other, Thana scrunched up her nose at them._ "Humans"_ she hissed this past week had been a real inconvenience to her, and now she was stuck chasing after a bunch of humans like an idiot.

But now this is the end, and she'd be rid of them in no time "You are all apart of something great, _yes _you are giving up your lives, but it's all for the greater good" Thana declared vehemently, knowing none of them could hear her talk nor could they see her.

_"Get off the plane!" _A voice shrieked out, causing Thana to turn in shock. _"Get off the plane!"_ somehow, she had missed a teenager making a scene.

A fight soon broke out as more teens jumped in to argue with the boy who was sweating and jumping about hysterically as he tried to get people off the plane.

"Anybody in the aisle is _off _the plane!" The flight attendant shouts as a group of kids are reluctantly escorted off the plane. _"No,"_ Thana growled in anger and confusion, knowing there wasn't supposed to be any survivors. _"How is this happening again?!"_

"What's _all _that about?" Thana overheard Molly ask Sam as he took his seat. "I have no idea," he responded as Thana looked around with a huff _"you and me both Sammy"_ It's just another mess Thana would have to clean up.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. We'll be pulling away from the gate as soon..." The intercom fizzes out into static as the plane began to rumble.

"Here we go," Molly grinned excitedly as Thana smirked to herself deviously as she watched the two remaining survivors hold hands their red auras getting darker _"here we go indeed."_

"The cabin lights have been dimmed for takeoff."

Crossing her arms and leaning against one of the chairs, Thana clicked her tongue as she felt the plane take off, she could leave, but she wanted to make sure everything finished smoothly, especially now she had to do this all over again with a new group of people.

Eyeing the overhead storage with a smirk, Thana couldn't help but mess with Sam one last time just for making her run around in circles like a moron.

The plane gave a sudden jerk making the storage door fly open as Sam jumped terrified. "Sorry about that," the Stewardess apologized sweetly.

Thana snorted thoroughly amused that she had managed to give off one last scare "_Oh_, excuse me..." A woman called out to the Stewardess who moved to the female's side "Those passengers who gone off the plane earlier, What was that all about?".

Thana frowned as she listened in too "A kid had a panic attack and wanted off the plane. Said he had some kind of _vision_," The Stewardess answered with a mocking lilt in her voice, but Thana knew better.

Her smirk dropped as she stood up straight, anger radiating from her. She knew now that someone was messing with her, first Sam and now this kid. _Who was helping them?_

Thana's eyes darted around before she spotted the person she was looking for, _"Castiel," _she growled as the Angel waved at her before disappearing.

It was Castiel, he'd sent these kids those visions to help them escape their fates and causing the design to be fucked up, she knew he wouldn't get away with this lightly.

The plane began to shake as if it had been hit with an earthquake, and the passengers started to scream and become hysterical. _"No!"_ Sam gasped, realizing what was about to happen.

_"Sorry, Sammy. I wanted to be dramatic, but I've got more important things to do,"_ clicking her fingers, a fire lit up on the wing nearest to Sam and Molly before Thana materialized out of the plane too.

Appearing back inside the airport, Thana watched with glee as a ball of fire appeared in the air. It takes a few seconds for the concussion to hit the terminal, but when it does, a mighty boom is unleashed as the large glass window shatters.

Turning to see everyone peering through her and out to the explosion, the redhead gives an innocent smile_ "whoops"_ alarms begin to wail as the two security guards tear off toward more urgent duties.

All the kids move to glance at the blond one who became pale like he'd seen a ghost, they seem as they were now afraid of him, this is the one who had the vision and got them off the plane.

The emergency vehicles' strobing red lights reflect in Alex's eyes as Thana gently sits next to the boy who was frozen with shock upon seeing the aftermath of flight 180.

Leaning into the shaking teenager, Thana grinned as she purred into his ear, _"we're going to have so much fun together."_


	2. t w o

A whole month had passed before Thana returned to the survivors, she tried to find Castiel and make him pay for fucking up the design, but he was nowhere to be seen.

She'd told her Father about the new survivors and how she would get everything back to plan, but he was very disappointed in her and furious with the dark-haired Angel.

_It never occurs to us that it has_

_any connection with the day already_

_begun or that death could arrive_

_this same afternoon._

Storm clouds devour a waxing crescent moon above a modest home set among the edge of the woods. A man has fallen asleep, perhaps passed out, reclined in "dad's chair." and a woman is sleeping on the sofa, balls of tissue on the floor.

_This afternoon... which is so_

_certain... and which has every hour_

_filled in advance._

Tod enters the room and stares sadly at his parents before he picks up a glass and swigs the remainder of his Father's scotch before moving off and climbing the stairs.

Thana gives the adults no attention as she follows behind the young boy, ready to begin her work and put the plan back into its rightful place.

* * *

Alex sits at his desk, dark circles beneath his eyes from lack of sleep and too much coffee.

Covering the desk are printouts of internet web pages and newspaper articles concerning the crash of Flight 180, forensic engineering textbooks, and reports on past airline disasters.

The teenager studies his mountain of research, increasingly obsessed. A paper flutter draws his attention to the newspaper being blown by the oscillating fan in his room.

He reaches out and grabs it seeing the headline and photo report on the memorial service, Alex sighs troubled as he stares down at the picture of Clear Rivers at the funeral holding a white rose.

Closing the paper he throws it on the desk, he thinks for a beat before he pulls open a lower drawer. Digging through the mess inside, he finds his stash... a 1997 issue of Penthouse.

* * *

Thana passes behind Tod as he moves the razor up to his neck, causing him to look over his shoulder, but Thana wasn't worried she knew he couldn't actually see her.

Directing the small puddle of water she had created with her hand, Thana rolled her eyes at all the possible deaths that could happen to Tod right now.

How humans have survived for this long genuinely surprised her.

Tod leans over to an unplugged radio, and he grabs the plug and inserts it into the electrical socket, the boy picks back up a pair of scissors before the radio turns on.

**𝅘𝅥𝅮 _And they say that he got crazy_**

**_once and he tried to touch the sun. _𝅘𝅥𝅮**

Spooked Tod quickly pulls the plug out of the wall as a spark shoots out, and the radio instantly silences as the teenager gives off a nervous laugh before moving away from the puddle Thana had drifted towards his bare feet.

Growling at his movement, Thana changed the course of the water, only getting more annoyed when things didn't go her way, but she knew that after the six survivors were gone, she could back to the original design.

* * *

Studying the centerfold, Alex gives a small smile before his eyes catch the photograph of Clear and the rose she gave him. Alex sighs and turns, opening the desk drawer to return the magazine; however, a loud bang turns Alex's head to the window.

An owl has flown into the glass, awkwardly flapping its massive wings, it then turns its head toward Alex as its large yellow eyes watch the blond boy as if he was trying to communicate.

Startled, Alex reflexively throws the Penthouse across the room, pages tearing as it hits the sill, and the giant bird flies off but not before giving Alex a meaningful look.

The table fan swivels, a page catching in the whirling blades and a piece of paper torn from the magazine flits across the room, the piece of paper floats and flitters until landing on his knee.

Suppressing a shiver Alex picks it up and turns it over, the paper is torn in such a manner that the only letters remaining from the centerfold's caption are _"...Tod..."._

Seeing the yellow eyes watching him, Alex realized that this like the vision was a sign, from whom he didn't know, but it wasn't something he was going to ignore, especially with what happened last month.

Grabbing his coat, he quickly snuck out and started off toward his best friend's house, trying his best to ignore the daunting feeling he felt in his stomach.

* * *

Tod pulls aside the shower curtain revealing multiple pairs of nylons drying on a retractable clothesline, sighing the dark-haired boy begins to take them down until his foot slips on the puddle and he falls forward.

The retractable clothesline retracts as Tod falls neck first into it, and it whips wildly around his neck. Tod's hand tries to grab anything to hold him, but his hand slips knocking over a bottle of shampoo.

The thin clothesline coils around his neck, and the plastic anchor wraps beneath the cord, essentially creating a noose. Tod falls against the back wall of the shower stall, pulled by the retracting wire.

He kicks with his feet, desperately trying to gain a footing as Thana approached quietly, watching as the boy's feet slip in the slick shampoo and water. _"Just let go, Tod," _The redhead warned, ready to make this worse for the boy should he fight back.

Tod's eyes begin to flare, and his blood vessels burst.

He groans attempting to call out, Thana sighs holding out her hand, and the clothesline tightens again as Tod's hands tear at his flesh, desperately trying to pull the cord from his neck.

Thana notices Tod's eyes dart desperately toward the counter to where the pair of nose-hair scissors sat_ "desperate times huh Tod?"_ Thana mocks as the teen reaches for the counter where the scissors lay sadistically just out of reach.

Suspended by the cord and propped against the back wall of the shower stall, Tod's face begins to turn blue as his finger tries to pry the cable from his neck.

Thana once again holds out her hand, tightening the makeshift noose as she watches the human fight for his life.

Abruptly appearing in front of Tod, she waggles her fingers in his direction, knowing she could literally scare the life out of him.

She knew showing herself would probably bite her in the ass, but she deserved some kind of entertainment, especially after everything she's been through lately.

The boy quickly stops fighting to look at Thana in terror before the life drains from his eyes, and his body slumps down into the bath.

The redhead eyes his lifeless form, _"Aw at least you tried."_

Moving away from the now-dead boy, Thana clicks her fingers, and the puddle of water eerily retreats from the floor, slipping back toward the base of the toilet and out of sight like it had never been there at all.

Glaring down at the teenager, Thana crouched by his side as she watches him silently in thought before hissing at his lifeless pale body._ "I am inevitable there's no escaping me" _One down, six more to go.


	3. t h r e e

Alex stood in Clear's garage after asking her why she was at Tod's house, and he was beginning to think he'd never get a straight answer from the girl "You know what this is?" She questions, pointing to a weird-looking metal thing.

"This is a... This is Springy Head Guy" Alex guesses as a circle the sculpture having no idea what it was supposed to be or why Clear was asking him what he thought it could be.

"It's _you_" Clear answers seriously as Alex remaining dry and stoned faced he tenses feeling uncomfortable. "Not a likeness. It's how you make me feel, _Alex_" Clear continues as she holds the spring of the metal sculpture.

"I'm sorry" was all the blond boy could say, the sculpture was a mess, to say the least, it was the epitome of poorly communicated teen angst, welded to the center of the spring was a head shaped piece of metal with holes torn into it.

"_No_. Like you, the sculpture doesn't even know... what or why it is. It's reluctant to take form... and yet creating an absolute..._but _incomprehensible attraction" Uncertain yet intrigued, Alex listens carefully as Clear turns to him.

"In _four _years of high school, we haven't said one word to each other. At that moment, on the plane, I felt what you felt," She admits as Alex stares at her in shock "I didn't even know where those emotions came from... until _you _started freaking out".

Alex sighs, embarrassed, but Clear continues, "I didn't see what you saw, _but _I felt it. You can still feel it, can't you? Something from that day is still with you" The blond is increasingly uncomfortable with the subject, but eased by Clear's apparent, _somewhat_, understanding.

He nods with his hands firmly planted in his pockets "I felt like something was trying to warn me, to help me but then..." Alex glances into Clear's eyes as she motions for him to continue, "now I feel like something is wrong, something _bad _is coming."

"I know, I can still feel you," Clear explains, stepping closer to Alex. "_That's _why I was there last night," She finally acknowledges as Alex moves away in distress.

"I've never dealt with death before. This could all be in our head," he states, picking up one of Clear's trinkets and staring at it. "It just feels like it's all around us," He revealed quietly as if he himself thought it sounded crazy.

_"It?"_ Clear questioned as she repeated the word making Alex turn back to her quickly and lowering his voice. "What if Tod was just the first of us"

The idea sends a shot of apprehension through Clear "Is that something that you're _'feeling?'_" she emphasized the word feeling knowing Alex would get what she was asking, but the boy just breathed, walking past her.

"I don't know. I wish I could see him one last time. Maybe I would know," The boy said with a huff sounding hopeless. "Then let's go see him" Alex watches Clear in surprise, but he follows after her all the same.

* * *

Thana slowly saunters up behind the dark-skinned mortician as he and the two kids see over Tod's body.

She had already had a long morning with yet another person falling out of line with the design, and she was beginning to wonder if she was being tested.

"In death, there are no accidents... no coincidences, no mishaps... and no escapes" Thana smirked at the man's words, he was right, there was no escaping death "What you have to realize is we're all just a mouse... a cat has by the tail".

The two teenagers look at each other before turning back to Bludworth "Every single move we make... from the mundane to the monumental... the red light that we stop at or run... the people we have sex with or won't with us... airplanes that we ride or walk out of... it's all part of death's sadistic design... leading to the grave".

_"Design,"_ Alex whispers, glancing at his friends' body. "Does that mean if... you figure out the design, you can cheat death?" Thana glared at his words as she observed him.

_Did he really think he could change his fate twice?._

"Alex, you've already done that... by walking off the plane," Bludworth purred as he motioned down to Tod's lifeless form "Your friend's departure... shows that death has a new design for all of you".

The redhead grinned manically when Clear's eyes went round with fear.

"Now you have to figure out... how and when it's coming back at you. Play your hunch...if you think you can get away with it," Bludworth hinted to the teenagers as Thana tilted her head in annoyance and clicked her tongue.

"But remember the risk of cheating the plan of disrespecting the design could incite a fury to terrorize even the Grim Reaper" Alex's eyes are locked on Bludworth's chilling smile.

He starts to pull on a foot-long needle from Tod's spinal column, the two kids gulp as they watch the man begin to pull another metal tube.

"And you don't even want to fuck with that Mack Daddy" The mortician warned as he yanks the tube out causing some yellowish-green fluid to seep on to the table, Clear gasped in disgust as she stepped back.

Thana would have been entertain by this, but she had more pressing matters, and even seeing Clear River's distressed face wasn't going to pull her out of the pissed off mood she was in.

Bludworth laughed to himself as Alex clapped his hands together, seemingly having enough "OK, then. Well... I'm sorry we broke in, and..." he motioned the door as he and Clear begin to back away.

"No harm, no foul" The mortician shrugged as Clear opened to door and all but ran out the room.

"I'll see you soon," The man says, ominously pointing a finger at Alex, who stares back in a terrifying wonder before closing the door behind him.

Clapping her hands slowly, Thana makes herself visible and sits on the counter, picking up one of the metal tools by her side "That was beautiful" The redhead comments as the man watches her carefully but not surprised to see her.

"Thana, nice to see you" He greets politely, but Thana doesn't smile; she just watches as the man gets back to work, not bothered by her presence in the slightest something that doesn't bother her as much as it used to.

"I was beginning to wonder why all these people were suddenly changing their fates or just happened to stumble from the design" Thana begins as she jumps from the counter toying with objects as she moves around the room.

"So imagine my surprise when I come here and see you talking to the soon to be dead" Thana suddenly slams her hand down on a metal tray in a fury "You are the ferryman, not a storyteller" she growls through her teeth "I made you Charon for a reason, you take the souls and deliver them".

Bludworth tensed but didn't look outwardly worried.

"You can not help them, it is their fate, it is the design and nothing will change that" Thana whispers getting closer to the man "no accidents... no coincidences... and no escapes".

* * *

Alex sighed as he sat in front of his computer, looking up death omens, but so far, nothing was helping him. Nobody had ever fought death before, so all he was getting were generic things like folklore and superstitions.

"You won't find what you are looking for unless you _actually _know what you're looking for" A deep voice grumbled from behind the boy, making him jump up in fright, there was a man stood in the middle of his room, and Alex had no idea how he'd gotten there.

"please don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you," the man promised raising one hand in surrender, but Alex still stayed far away from him, not believing the man who suddenly appeared from nowhere and scared the life out of him.

"I'm Castiel" The man took a step closer to Alex who tried to move further away but was stopped by his drawers "I'm the one who saved you from certain death" Castiel asserted as the wind picked up in Alex's room and the news report from the crash flew into the boy's chest.

"It was _you_," Alex gasped, looking down at the report "_you _gave me that vision," the blond deduced as he glanced towards the superior looking man "_what _are you? _What's _after us?" Alex gave question after question, but Castiel remained silent.

Lifting up his hand, Castiel pointed to Alex's computer as it began to blink rapidly and move like someone was using it "_This _is what you need to know, _this _is who you're dealing with" Alex gave a quick look to Castiel before sitting at his desk.

_"Thana?" _He read as Castiel stepped closer to look over the boy's shoulder._ "Thana in mythology is the personification of death. Thana is the daughter of Lucifer, also known as the devil, and the sister of..."_

Alex immediately glanced up at the stoic man with a gulp before continuing, _"Castiel, the angel of life."_

Swinging back to the computer, Alex skim-read the other information about Thana before huffing, "This can't be real, we're being hunted by Death, who's a _girl _named Thana?".

Turning back to look at the_ 'Angel,'_ Alex froze when he saw nobody behind him; it was like the man had never been there at all, or so he thought until he turned to the window and saw the same wide-eyed owl watching him as before.


	4. f o u r

Alex and Clear sit down at a small coffee shop talking about what they had previously found out.

The blond's eyes are searching for anything potentially deadly as he leans towards Clear "The mortician said that death has a design, I'm talking about omens."

There was no way Alex was going to tell anyone about the strange Angel from yesterday, not until he knew if they believed him.

He knew how crazy he would sound telling them about an Angel visiting him to talk about his sister, _death._

"How do we know that just by sitting here by sipping this coffee or breathing the air or even crossing the intersection, we haven't started in motion the events that will someday lead to our death forty years from now, ten years, _tomorrow?"_

Alex stops his short rant as he reaches into his pocket. "_We don't_, unless we open ourselves up," pulling out the small piece of torn paper, he slid it across to the girl "to the signs it's willing to show us."

Clear looked down at the small paper with the word _TOD _written on it. "I don't understand," she glanced back up at Alex nervously. "Did you see Tod die? Did it happen again, like on the plane?".

The blond sighed as he sat back in his seat "_No_, it didn't, but it might as well have" tapping the paper desperately Alex huffed "This is a message from something, Clear...or _someone_, hinting at a design and it's trying to help us fight death."

_"Total bullshit,"_ Clear began with a laugh. "You can find death omens anywhere you want to".

Suddenly Alex's attention is pulled to the window of the Coffee shop where he sees a reflection of a bus passing, but when he turns around, there was _no _bus in sight.

Hearing Clear's voice in the back of his mind, he turned back to the girl who hadn't realized he wasn't listening. "I _want _to hear you, but we'll go nuts if you start with this shit."

"The mortician said that death has a design, _right?" _Clear nodded at Alex's words as the boy let out a breath "_Now_, what if you, me, Tod, Carter Terry, Billy, Mrs. Lewton messed up that design? For whatever reason, I saw death's plan... and we _cheated _it".

Clear opened her mouth to talk, but Alex continued, "But what if it was our time? What if we were not meant to get off that plane? What if it _still _is our time?" the blond boy asked rhetorically as he started to get worked up.

Looking into Clear's eyes, he wanted her to believe him, "If it is, then it's not finished...and we will die. _Now_, not later. Unless we find the patterns and cheat it again".

* * *

Thana sat on top of the construction site as she watched the group of teenagers argue below unknowing of what was coming next for one of them.

She saw the omen that Castiel had sent to Alex, but she also knew the boy paid no real attention to it; she knew she had gotten into his head, and she hadn't even met him yet.

After hearing Alex's words, Thana knew he was getting closer to figuring out more than any human had before _"Fucking Castiel"_ she swore thinking about the Angel who had metaphorically shaken the plan like it was a soda bottle.

Her father was none too happy about the state of the design right now, but she had promised him that she would sort it out, and here she was running around after a bunch of stragglers yet again.

Somehow they had all managed to once again group themselves together without her making them, and Thana knew what was about to happen next would be beautiful.

"_Enough! _Both of you! They died, and we lived. Get over it," The blonde girl Theresa Chaney yelled at the two teenage boys, as they fought.

Thana's mouth curved up to a feline-like grin._ "Don't worry, Terry, it'll all be over soon enough, dollface."_

Clicking her fingers, Thana materialized next to the group as she crossed her arms and leaned against the sleek black car that belongs to one of her stragglers.

"I will not let this plane crash...be the most important thing in my life! God!" Terry screamed, smacking her boyfriend, Carter Horton, on the chest.

Walking away from the group, Terry started to cross the road before stopping, "I'm moving on, Carter...and if you want to waste your life... beating the shit out of Alex every time you see him...".

The blonde girl starts to turn away before delivering one final hiss, "...then you can just _drop _fucking dead!"

A bus suddenly speeds passed the group and plows directly right into her. Alex, Clear, Carter, and Valarie Lewton are splattered with Terry's blood before they can even recoil or help her.

_"Ouch, that looks like it hurt" _Thana turned to the pale looking teenagers and teacher, _"Right guys?"._

Stepping closer, the hyperventilation teacher Thana glanced at the body in front of the bus, her legs are twisted, and bent, and her jaw is sticking out of her body, exposing her skull.

_"Well, I'm sure it only hurt for a second,"_ The redhead said mockingly as she gave an innocent pout.

Seeing the faces of those around her, Thana began to giggle until her body suddenly froze, her eyes turned white, and the pupil of her eye changed into a skull shape as a haze overcame her.

Blinking Thana's teal eyes reappeared as she watched the passengers on the bus started to make their exit, the redhead's eyes focused on one, in particular.

_a very corporate looking woman wearing a navy blue power suit and speaks into a phone headset while smoking a cigarette._

Seeing the red aura around the woman had Thana seething,_ "I'll deal with you later,"_ she growled towards the now shaking woman who was running her hands through her short brown hair, not even realizing how lucky she was.

* * *

**The National Transportation Safety**

**Board has a new theory tonight on the**

**possible cause of Euro-Air Flight 180...**

Alex quickly grabs the remote and turns up the volume on the TV, a computer graphic illustrations the area of the lower fuselage as the CNN Anchor beginning to explain the new theory on the explosion.

**Deterioration of silicon insulation**

**on an electrical connector to the**

**scavenger pump may have leaked**

**combustible fluids.**

Alex remains riveted to the screen as the graphic ZOOMS into the area in the rear right side, nearly above Tod's seat. "That's Tod's seat..." Alex mumbled as he listens to the report.

**A spark in the fuel switch**

**may have ignited the fuel line.**

**And proceeded to the fuel pump.**

The high-tech computer image traces the path of the explosion through the plane. A red line representing the fuel line zigs through the body of the aircraft, making a sharp turn forward to the fuel pump, which explodes.

Jagged lines show the direction of the explosion moving backward toward the rear of the plane. "I gotta go," Alex stutters as he jumps over the couch and runs up to his room.

Pushing everything off his desk, he quickly sits down at his computer and pulls up the report from the news and tracing over the red line that represented the fuel line.

Moving over to the plane schematic identical to the 747, Alex arranged the tracing paper over it and traces his finger over the line. The path starts over **_'TOD'_** "First was Tod, then he moves to **_'TERRY'_** "then it was Terry."

The line moves forward away from** _'CARTER'_ **toward the fuel pump "They're dying in the order they would've died. _That's_ death's design" Alex is instantly more frightened as it occurs to him, he now knows who will be next "Ms. Lewton's next."

The clapping of hand made him twirl quickly in his chair he was half expecting to see the Angel from before but instead saw a teenage girl. Although she had the beauty of one he instantly knew she was _no _Angel.

"So you figured it out" she purred as she lay on his bed with her feet kicked up behind her, she would have looked like an innocent teenage girl, but something told Alex the redhead was _dangerous_.

"I'm guessing my _brother _paid you a lovely little visit," the girl sneered, and Alex instantly froze. _"Your brother?"_ he gulped as the girl just grinned dangerously at him.

"You must be _Thana?"_ The boy questioned, trying not to stutter as the redhead laughed melodically. "Of course I am, _but _you might know me better as **_Death_**" She smirked as Alex's face tightened in fear.

Suddenly Thana's eyes turned white, and Alex watching in shock as her black pupils turned into tiny skulls.

_"What the fu..."_ before he could move, Thana's eyes returned back to a beautiful teal color, and she gave him a knowing grin "So who's going to get to _her _first?".

Following Thana's eyes, he looked down at the paper he was just writing on, and Ms. Lewton's name was now written in blood, gasping Alex's head shot back up.

_But the redhead girl was gone_, and he had a feeling he knew where she'd be.


	5. f i v e

Thana watches with a wide humored smile as Alex gets taken away by two agents and forcefully shoved into the back of their car, _"ta tah!"_ Thana giggles as she watches the car sped away before turning to the house, her smile now dropping and her face deadly.

Breezing through the open window, she passes the high school teacher as she shivers and turns to look over her shoulder, confused. _"Wow, you absolutely reek of guilt, it's almost sad,"_ The redhead says, tilting her head to the side.

Valarie moves to a closet door, opens it, and click on an overhead light. Kneeling down, she tugs on a heavy box and begins to check the contents, her expression warms and saddens all at the same time as if recalling a memory "Mom's favorite"

She slides a vinyl record album out of the sleeve and moves to the turntable on the counter. She places the record on the stereo and sets the needle on the album, Thana glances over her shoulder and lets out a snort at the record about to play 'JOHN DENVER.'

_"This couldn't be any more perfect if I tried"_ The demonic girl glanced around the house in wonder, _"It's like a dream in here," _she grinned, looking at all the possible deaths in this one home.

**_He was born in the summer of his_**

**_twenty-seventh year..._**

Seeming pleased with the memories the music was bringing, Valarie moves off with a soft smile, she removes the chrome teapot from the stove and transfers it to the sink filling it with water.

As she wipes the pot with a blue checked hand towel Thana moves behind her causing a shadow to show in the side of the teapot, Valarie turns as she looks about the room only to find she is alone; or so she thinks.

Unsettled, the teacher absently tosses the towel on the counter the edge which, catches a knife blade held in the cutlery block. _"Oh come on, you're making this way too easy,"_ Thana pouts, almost stomping her foot.

Ms. Lewton turns on the stove gas on and adjusts it _"Time to play"_ The redhead smirks blowing out the flame, Valarie pauses her nerves on edge as her eyes cautiously move about the room but still finds nothing.

_"Something out there?"_ Thana teases as she whispers into the high school teacher's ear, but the woman could hear no sound as she grabs a pack of nearby matches and strikes one.

**_He left yesterday behind him_**

**_You might say he's born again..._**

The flames re-ignites and the teapot water starts to boil as Thana gives the woman a once over; her aura is only getting darker, which means she'll soon be back on the path written for her.

**_When he first came to the mountains,_**

**_his life was far away..._**

Thana sits on the counter as the teapot begins to whistle, Valarie drops a teabag inside her mug and then pours the steaming hot water before she picks up the cup, raising it toward her lips.

She pauses, her expression turning tragic, and she spins, throwing out the hot contents before placing the mug down.

Thana claps her hands and kicks her legs, laughing at the sight, _"Oh man, I forgot how sensitive you humans can be."_

The cup displays the logo of the Mt. Abraham Fighting Colonials, Valarie trembles as she takes a deep breath trying to get a hold of herself "You gotta stop this! Stop this! It's just a stupid mug".

Taking another breath, she composes herself, "You're outta here. Pretty soon... you'll be gone," Thana grins at the woman's words. _"You don't even know how right you are lady."_

Opening the refrigerator freezer, the teacher grabs some ice and a bottle of pure Polish Vodka then deliberately turns back toward the same mug, watching Valarie throw in the ice cubes and pours the cold alcohol in the hot cup Thana clicks her fingers, and a crack appears in the mug.

The woman picks it up oblivious to the crack as she moves off toward the living room, leaving a trail of alcohol with Thana stalking behind her.

She knows she could have caused her death many times by now, but sometimes the fun is in the chase, and Thana just loves to be thorough, especially with the ones who got away.

Valarie leans over her desk and looks behind her desktop computer monitor as she pauses to swig from her cup of vodka, which drips from the crack Thana put in her mug.

**_It's the Colorado Rocky Mountain_**

**_High..._**

The teacher sets the mug out of the way on the back edge of her desk as the remaining vodka oozes from the crack, pools, then drips off the side of the desk.

**_I've seen it rainin' fire from the_**

**_sky..._**

Grabbing a piece of bubble wrap, Valarie begins to wrap all of her ornaments and placing it in her moving box before she hears a pop and sizzle.

Standing up slowly, she looks at her computer monitor that is now smoking.

_"Now, I'm not great at human technology, but are you sure it's supposed to do that?"_ The Demon girl questions innocently as Valarie leans in closer to the monitor before Thana clicks her fingers again.

The monitor suddenly explodes as a large jagged shard from the monitor flies into her throat _"ooh, have you tried turning it off and on again?" _Thana asks as blood squirts from the woman's neck onto the floor.

**_Rocky Mountain High/ Colorad-oh._**

Her stunned expression is sickeningly numb from shock _"Tis, but a scratch" _Thana quotes as the human reaches up to reflexively pull the glass from her throat, creating a flood of spurting blood _"not sure you're supposed to do that but I'm Death what do I know."_

Valarie drops the glass and quickly stumbles toward the kitchen, blindly banging the turntable as she passes. The needle skips and settles back at the start of _'Rocky Mountain High.'_

_"Oh, I love this song. All together now. **He was born in the summer of his twenty-seventh year**," _Thana sang obnoxiously as she followed Valarie into the kitchen.

Clicking her fingers again, the computer exploded once more only this time the sparks ignited the trickling stream of vodka, flames ride the small trickle of vodka back toward the kitchen.

Valerie desperately presses her hand to her throat as she gurgles and chokes on the blood from the wound. She leans over the now red sink as the flaming stream shoots up the stove, lighting the burners.

Behind the woman the stove erupts in flames catching onto the open vodka bottle causing a fireball which blew the to women onto her back, her open neck wound continues to bleed as blood pools on the floor.

In shock and moving on pure survival instincts, she reaches up towards the hand towel she had used earlier as it dangles over the edge of the countertop. Her hand grabs and pulls it.

_"Wow, you do not give up easily do you,"_ Thana says in surprise as the draped edge of the towel pulls over the cutlery block causing the knives to spill out, entangled with the hand towel and the biggest one lands in the middle of her chest making her scream out in pain.

"Ms. Lewton!" Thana glanced up, surprised to see Alex back._ "Goody, this was just starting to get pathetically sad"_ Alex rushes across the threshold to see his teacher lay on the floor covered in blood with a purely horrified expression.

"Ms. Lewton," The boy whispers in pity as Thana climbs onto the counter to see how he tries to fix this. "All right, just stay still, OK?" Alex says as he quickly kneels next to her.

She looks at him, in shock, her eyes pleading. Alex gathers his courage, places his hand on the handle of the largest blade just as Thana shows herself. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she giggles, waving her fingers at the terrified teacher.

"Thana, _don't!"_ Alex pleads as he's about to remove the knife "no escapes. I am _inevitable_," Thana recites as she clicks her fingers, making the stove gas line erupt, creating a small explosion.

The cutlery block is knocked off of the counter, and the block lands directly on the butcher knife handle, driving the blade further into Ms. Lewton's body and knocks Alex back into the cabinets.

"Oh god, Ms. Lewton," Alex cries out as he pushes the chair away from the teacher and grabs the knife pulling it out, but the woman is already gone, her eyes open wide and lifeless.

Alex pauses with guilt as he looks at the knife in his hand before turning to Thana when she saunters up to him and leans in closer before whispering _"**Run**"_ Alex drops the blade to the floor and races from the house.


	6. s i x

Flashing lights filled the streets from the emergency services as the fire in the Lewton household was finally put out.

The neighbors crowd the road as police make their rounds and question any witnesses to the death of Valarie Lewton.

A body bag on top of a gurney is rolled out of the front door by paramedics, and following behind the body bag containing the deceased high school teacher is William Bludworth who was wearing a jacket marked _"CORONER"._

Forensic Scientists have been scoping the house and collecting any evidence that wasn't charred or wholly ruined, which included the damning evidence of a shoe and fingerprints belonging to the person who last saw and possibly killed Valarie.

Knowing the gravity of the situation with _another _survivor of flight 180 being horrifically killed, the FBI quickly took the evidence back to the lab and put a rush order on it to find out who had murdered the teacher.

Agents Schrek and Agent Weine had an idea _who _it might have been, but they couldn't confirm their earlier suspicions without hard evidence; _however_, it wasn't too far-fetched to think the same boy who was lurking around earlier that night was the culprit.

As soon as it was confirmed that the prints belonged to the blond-haired teenager, the FBI agents began searching for him, but to no avail, he was gone without a trace.

They had a statement from Billy Hitchcock saying that he saw his classmate running from the scene before the house lit up into a fireball.

The crime scene had been tapped off, but that couldn't stop a particular Angel from looking around at the tragic events _"Oh Thana," _he sighed as his eyes roamed the burnt house and sobbing neighbors.

Valarie Lewton was well-loved and _didn't _deserve such a horrific death.

Castiel knew that it was his sister's job to _help _people get to the other side, but he had never seen her cause deaths so violently as she had been for the last few years.

She was _supposed _to be a neutral being, but her Demonic side must be influencing her more and more, especially since he had delivered a vision to Sam Lawton.

That vision led to him and his friends to survive the North Bay Bridge collapse and Thana had been on a vengeance to keep the humans in line and to keep the design working smoothly.

The Angel knew that his helpful hand was pushing his sister her to lose her temper and become overly angry at the survivors, but Castiel wanted to help the human live longer and better.

He was after all the _Angel of Life_.

Castiel knew that showing Alex that vision would be the North Bay Bridge collapse all over again, but he was hoping that he could help these survivors instead.

So far, he was failing _miserably_, his little sister was always one step ahead of him.

He needed help to get his sister back to judging and delivering death neutrally, and he felt like that someone was _Alex_.

The blond boy had managed to find out about Thana's design all on his own. He even faced the red-haired Demon of Death and didn't back down.

:::

Thana's heels clicked against the floor as she made her way through the stone hallway, she had been summoned by her Father.

She knew that he was going to ask about the design, but she also knew she was his favorite, so he shouldn't be that mad at the flawed system.

Marching up to the doors that opened up her Father's throne room, Thana frowns when they weren't opened immediately by the lower level demon's guarding it. "_Hey!_ Wake up!" the redhead yells as the guards jump into action.

"_Sorry_, Thana" They both apologized with their heads down, looking ashamed as Thana strolls by them with an evil glare "these doors open as soon as you hear me coming" she hisses at them with a bite in her voice as they nodded obediently.

_"Idiots,"_ The girl seethes as she struts into the throne room where her Father sat watching her with a knowing look "trouble, sweetheart?" his British accent ran clear as his eyes held amusement.

Thana stops just before the throne and crosses her arms.

"Haven't you got any _smarter _Demons working for you?" Thana sassed rolling her eyes as the Devil watched her with parental eyes, he knew his daughter could be a lot, but that was just Thana; take her or leave her.

She wasn't going to change for _anyone_.

"If we _had _smarter Demon's, they'd be lining up for your job," Lucifer taunted jokingly as Thana stood up straight, her Father had given her the title of Death when she had come of age, and she knew she was _damn _good at it.

Maybe a little _too _good at times.

"So _Thana_, tell me how your design fairing?" Thana bit her lip, knowing this was coming, but she still couldn't stop herself from wanting her Father's approval.

However, she knew he'd be disappointed as yet another person had strayed from their path since the death of Valerie Lewton.

"Castiel's _helping _hand has sent my design into a spiral. I have people surviving their chosen fate _left, right and center!"_ the redhead almost stomped her foot with a dark red pout but managed to stop the bratty movement.

"Castiel has been interfering _once _again?" Thana nodded quickly at Lucifer's angry question as the man's eyes turned red, if she could shift all the blame onto her brother, she would _definitely _do so.

Even though she was the granddaughter of God, she was _still _the daughter of the Devil and had more traits in common with him.

"If he hadn't given those _stupid _little visions in the first place, I _wouldn't_ be following humans around like a lost puppy" The girl spat feeling her fury raising.

Right now, she still had Alex, Clear, Carter, and Billy to find before going for the others who escaped their death because of her current fleet of humans.

"Don't you worry about Castiel, I think this needs a _Father's _touch" Lucifer purred as his only daughter gave a winning smile, you couldn't refute that she was definitely a daddy's girl but getting her big brother out of her hair without having to lift a finger made it _all _worth it.


	7. s e v e n

It had been two whole days since Thana had checked up on her own little band of _miscreants_, she had been busy with a dengue fever outbreak in Africa, that and she had to deal with yet another soul escaping their death due to the _idiots _who couldn't die when they were supposed to.

Now she didn't usually have to spend much time with dying people, that was the Ferryman's job, but when there's an outbreak of something Thana likes to be there just to make sure everything runs smoothly, it was about balance. _For the greater good._

No matter how much her Angel brother likes to say she's _'evil,'_ she was natures balance, and if killing off a few hundred people balanced out the world, then it had to be done.

However, she had to get back to her stragglers; she knew that these few days without her, or any of them dying had given Alex paranoid, especially now that the FBI thought he had killed the high school teacher, it had been perfect.

That wasn't part of the plan, _but_ it did make things interesting.

With Castiel nowhere to be seen, Thana could once again resume her work without being interrupted by an Angel with a daddy issue complex.

That's why Thana was now currently stalking the soul next on her list, Carter Horton but low and behold when she found him little miss_ 'I 'm-in-your-business'_ had rounded up the remainders, that's how Thana found herself sitting in between her and Alex in Carter's car.

"The fire caramelized her blood. Your shoe prints were in it, your fingerprints on the knives" Billy spluttered seemingly terrified as Alex sighed "I told you they were not... It _wasn't_ me it was...".

Carter cut Alex off, but not before Clear could give the blond a confused look through Thana's invisible form as the redhead raised an eyebrow at the thought of Alex trying to tell his friends about her.

"I'm not talking about if you did it. Or even if you knew she was dead. Did you know she was going to be next before she was?" The car went silent as Alex visibly bit his cheek before nodding "Yeah, I did._ I knew_."

Carter's eyes meet Alex's, and you could tell he was nervous. "All right, out of us... who's next to see it?" Billy turns to the blond with a pleading look, and Thana though he was about to say something worth listening to, she was wrong. "_Please_... tell me I'm going to see the Jets win a Super Bowl."

"It's me, right. That's why you're not saying" Carter asked again as Clear and Alex exchanged a look "I should have felt up Tammy in the pool that time" Billy whimpered gazing out of the window, Thana couldn't wait to be in charge of his death.

"What are you whining about? He said _I'm _next!" Carter yelled at Billy, who just glanced at him, ready to argue back "He didn't say anything. _Just drive_" Clear hissed, but the dark-haired boy wasn't having any of it "You have a responsibility to tell me."

Alex finally spoke up as Thana watched on thoroughly entertained that he was struggling. "Think it's easier to know?" The car was silent once again before Alex spoke up once more, "It's not. It's fucking _harder_."

"You get off having control over me?" Carter growls at the blond boy. "You let me decide how to deal with it" Alex leans forward and yells, "It doesn't matter who's next 'cause we're all on the same list. _All of us_.".

Thana giggles to herself, _"You really are, there is no escaping" _she sings songs giddily, these kids are much more fun than the last group.

"Oh, Fuck._ Really?"_ Carter almost whimpers, losing all of his tough-guy act. "_Then why bother? _What's the fucking point?" He asks after slamming his hand against the wheel "Me and Terry'll be back together on the other side. So why wait any longer?".

The car revs loudly as it speeds up rapidly_ "now this is more like it" _The redhead cheers as Carter begins to spiral emotionally. "What are you doing? Carter, slow down. Slow down, _Carter!"_ Alex shouts as Clear and Billy watch horrified.

_"Fuck you!"_ Carter swore as he swerved cars and dodged traffic, _"Knock it off!"_ Clear cried out, holding on to the back of the chair, Thana just sits and watches the whole thing unfold, knowing nothing will happen to the group of teenagers because this _was _part of her plan.

"May as well go out on my own free will!" The dark-haired teenager yells, speeding up even faster, "Not with us in the fucking car!" Billy began to hyperventilate as the car spun around a corner, just missing another vehicle, _"Jesus, Carter!"_

"_Carter_, stop the car!" Alex shouted, pulling the wheel from behind, "What's the fucking worry if it ain't your time?" Carter weaved in and out of the traffic, _impressively_, "I can get nailed running this next red light."

Alex suddenly looked down and noticed his broken seat belt, as did Thana. "You all wouldn't get shit right, only me." Thana's grin widens as Carter's psyche seems to get worse.

"It doesn't work that way, Carter!" Alex shouts at him, glancing back down to his seat belt that was now miraculously back to normal.

Thana clicked her tongue.

_Good move, brother"_ she laughed humorlessly at the sign for Alex, but that wouldn't stop her from getting Carter back on the plan, Castiel could play his little games from afar, but she'd win in the end.

Thana nods at Alex's previous words as the blond stares at his seat belt deep in thought, he knew what she knew and somehow he was trying to figure out the clue _"He's right, you should listen to him. All you're doing right now is scaring them-"._

_"-on second thought keep going,"_ the redhead cackled thoroughly enjoying all their fear, and she didn't even need to lift a fingernail to do it "I fucking hated French class!" Billy called out as Thana rolled her eyes. _"Je ne peux pas attendre que tu meures."_

"Get _control _of yourself" Clear orders as Carter barely acknowledges her "That's what I'm doing!" The teenager shakes her head at his words, "I _know _what you're doing, and it's all right to be scared."

The dark-haired boy laughs, "_I'm not afraid._ I decide when it's time._ I _control my life. _I _control my death" he tries to explain fruitlessly, he wanted to show them that there was no design and that people could control their own fates.

"You don't have to prove how big your balls are, not now!" Billy called out as he grabbed onto the wheel as the car starts shaking from the speed it was doing, Carter hits Billy in the mouth knocking him away and into the door.

"Carter _stop _driving like such an asshole" The three teens all start shouting at once when they see Carter take his hands off the steering wheel and put them in the air cheering to himself _"Look Ma no hands" _Thana clapped as she laughed _"I like you kid, too bad about the whole having to die thing"._

"Put your hands back on the wheel!" Alex pleaded as they all saw a semi-truck turning towards them. _"Oh, Shit,"_ Carter breathed as he put his hands back on the wheel after passing the truck.

"That _wasn't _me," the dark-haired boy mumbled confused, it was like the car guided itself around the truck.

"I am so close to puking right now," Billy complained as Carter went quiet, seeing the wheel turning itself "_what _the fuck?" he said to himself, not realizing the redhead in the back had been controlling their destination since he first started speeding up.

Alex seeing Carter's change in attitude, realized what was happening and quickly glanced out of the window to see an image of a train reflecting back towards him.

"We're afraid, too, but we're not quitting. Stop it and stop this fucking car!" Clear shouted at the boy driving before he finally lost his cool _"It's not me!"._

Alex felt a chill run through him as he figured out who might be in the car with him. "Thana?" he whispered, but nothing happened. _"Oh, Alex, it doesn't work like that,"_ the demon girl mocked as the boy moved his eyes around searching for her.

Thana knew that Carter had also figured out that he was no longer or at all controlling the car "Damn it, I want you to stop this car right now!" Thana quickly clicked her fingers after Clear's words, and the car stopped dead.

A bell started ringing as crossing guards lowered, and Alex realized where they were, where Thana had taken them. The four teenagers breathed heavily just before they heard a loud horn. _"Ooh, I wonder what that could be,"_ Thana said as she calmly sat in her seat.

"Open the door, Billy," Alex ordered as Clear hit the back of Carter's seat as he sat looking frozen "Move the fucking car!" she screamed at him, but he said nothing only nudged her back as the train sounded it's horn again.

Billy fumbled with the door but was so scared he missed the handle a few times as Clear and Alex screamed in his ear, "_Billy_, open the door!" Finally, the door swung open, and Billy tumbled out to the ground.

Clear climbed out next as did Alex, but he turned back to face the dark-haired boy, "Carter, listen to me. _Don't do this_" Carter met Alex his face void of any emotion when Thana flicked her hand, and Alex was thrown back.

The door slammed shut after that "God damn it!" Clear shouted as she and Billy stood safety off the tracks. "Get _out _of the fucking car!" Carter just placed his hand on the passenger seat and sat calmly.

Alex knew that it had been Thana who pushed him away from the car and was now desperately begging with Carter, who didn't know anything about the girl and how his death was imminent if he stayed in the car. "Carter, listen to me! This isn't the way! It's not the way! Get out of the car!".

"It _ain't _my time," Carter called out as the train could clearly be seen in the distance, he reached for his keys and turn them, but the car refused to start _"Aw having car trouble sweetheart" _Thana mocked as she now sat in the passenger seat.

_"Shit"_ Carter mumbled as he once again failed to start the car, not listening to his classmates pleading with him, he began to panic when he finally realized the car was going nowhere. Glancing up into the mirror, he noticed a shadow in the chair next to him and gulped.

Moving to open the door, the locks suddenly went down. _"Nuh-uh, you wanted this,"_ Thana explained as she watched him frantically try to open the door before calling out to Alex. "I can't get out!".

He moved to undo his belt, but it wouldn't budge at all, Alex ran onto the track to help his tormentor as they both began to pull and struggle against the seat belt. The train was so close now that Alex could see the writing on the front _'747.'_

Feeling a hand underneath theirs, Alex and Carter looked across as Thana made herself seen "what's up good looking" Thana smirks at a now terrified Carter who noticed the redhead's grip was the reason the seat belt wouldn't unlock, _she _was keeping him in the car.

Feeling the belt rip, Alex pulled Carter out of the car, and they both dove back onto the other side of the track as the train smashed into Carter's pride and joy as it speeds by engulfing it in flames.

"_Who _the fuck was that?!" Carter question Alex as Clear threw herself into the blond's arms. "Who was who?" she questioned, but Carter was focused on Alex, who looked guilty "_who _was the chick in the car!" Carter yelled again.

"_That _was Thana,-" Carter began to open his mouth before Alex continued_ "-that was death" _Carter stared at Alex in terror as Clear glanced between the two "I didn't see anyone else in the car."

Alex turned to her with a shrug "Maybe because it wasn't your time-" the blond looked at the train still passing by "-_or _maybe she's toying with us" Billy had been pacing as they spoke, but now he turned to stare at Carter _"That's right!"._

The three look at Billy, who was now hyperventilating, "You're next,_ Carter!_ I'm staying the fuck away from you!" He began to back away from the group as Carter shouted at him, still in shock, "Shut up, _Billy!"._

Clear glanced up from her position in Alex's lap to glare at Billy "Billy we don't need this shit now," but Billy wouldn't have it as he continued to hysterically shout "I don't need it ever! Get away from him! _He's next!"._

"Fuck you, Billy! I'm not dead!" Carter growled as he lay on the ground, "You will be. You're dead...and you ain't taking me with you!" just as Billy turned to run, Thana appeared in front of him making him stop frozen.

_"Hello, Billy-" _Thana started as her eyes turned white with a vicious grin _"-Goodbye Billy"_ with great force, the train wheel runs over pieces of debris, cutting it in half.

It catches in the wheel and is spun around until shot out with the power of a missile and rips Billy's head from his shoulders.

"Thana, _no!"_ Alex called out, knowing that was her doing but shocked at how she had moved on from Carter. "Ouch, that looked like it hurt," Thana pouted as she appeared in front of the two boys winking at the terrified Carter. **"4 down, 3 to go".**


	8. e i g h t

A final piece of duct tape is applied to the corner of the table, dulling any sharp edges. All the shades are pulled as the room sits in dark shadows broken by occasional bright bursts of light.

Alex finds his way to a chair in the center of the room, away from everything except a nearby table holding a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit, both at arm's reach just in case, Thana is known to use anything _and _everything to her disposal.

Unshaven, a week and a half's growth, and unkept, Alex looks horrible. An anxious zombie, especially in the dim glow of the lantern. Dark circles, from lack of sleep. Thin, from lack of food. Pale, from lack of sunlight.

He'd done what the Angel had told him _not _to do, he let Thana get inside of his head. The teenager had tried more than once to call for the dark-haired man, but he was _nowhere _to be seen.

_So much for helping him with Thana._

Alex places workman's gloves on his hands before picking up a can of chicken pâté. With some degree of difficulty, he works the gloves beneath the tab and pulls. Careful not to cut himself, he reaches out and drops the lid into a small trash can.

The teen removes the gloves, and with a plastic spoon, he begins to eat. Counting his bites, he begins to chew methodically, chewing and chewing and chewing with concentration until after steadying himself prepares to swallow _then _he carefully does.

He pauses for a second.. _he's alright_. He takes the spoon scoops some more, and the process begins again, he didn't know the statistics of people dying from choking on food, _but _he did know he didn't want to become one of them.

Thunder rumbles outside as a breeze blows beneath the door, carrying some Autumn leaves, the breeze across the floor to Alex's pant legs, which slightly flutter, causing the blonde to stiffen as he instantly became paranoid.

Alex stays sitting in his safe chair, obsessively cautious as his eyes move towards the door, anticipating the consequential events. Following the path of the breeze, Alex turns around just the brown shopping bag tips over.

Amongst the trash spread on the floor, a can rolls out and across the floor. Alex tenses he doesn't look to where the can came from but where it is going. The tin can rolls across the floor and gently hits the end of a fishing pole, propped in the corner.

The pole teeters and falls over, the fishing hook drops hooking a closet door. The door begins to swing open as Alex quickly jumps out of his chair, hustling towards the door in terror.

Alex slams the door shut before it can open. Behind the door, a crash rings out as something falls inside the small closet. The boy cracks a cocky half-smile, he has caught Thana's plan before her attempt has any adverse effects.

The blond teen removes the hook from the door and places the pole on the floor. He cautiously opens the door, revealing a tackle box has spilled thick, rusted old fishing hooks upon the floor.

Alex bends down and examines them "_Rusted_. Tetanus. Nice touch," he calls out, knowing the redhead was watching him, "I overlooked it. You tried to capitalize. But I caught you, you fuck. I can beat you. Not forever, but I got this cabin rigged to beat you _NOW!"_

"_Maybe _I just like seeing you scared" A silky voice exclaims as he turns to see the beautiful demon sitting in his safe chair like they were old friends. "_Maybe _I love the way you look when you're absolutely _terrified_," the redhead purred with a smirk.

Alex gritted his teeth as he felt the familiar fear run through him as he stared at the girl, he hated that he felt this way, but he knew what he was up against, as much as she jokingly teased him she was _still _Death.

"Did you know the tetanus fatality ratio in the United States was 91% in 1947 _but _is now only 18%. I guess people just don't die like they used to," Thana pouted as she revealed statistics to him before smirking and standing up to look around at his handy work.

The boy just stood frozen as the redhead moved about the cabin before she turned to him with the discarded food tin "_really Alex? _Death by chicken pâté? _Is _that how you thought I would let you go?".

_"Let me go?" _Alex questioned as a wink was thrown his way before her gaze moved along to something else, he watched in a daze as she gently ran her fingers over the objects in the room he'd safety proofed.

If he _didn't _know what she was, he'd admit to thinking she was some type of dark fallen angel.

"I have to admit though I do find a weird satisfaction seeing all of this," Thana explained to him as she motioned to his duct tapped and cushioned surroundings. "It'll just make seeing your face when you realize worth it."

Alex frowned at the demon's words, _vague words_, what didn't he know that she did?

"You know Alex I thought you had it _all _figured out, _I really did_, and then I came here only to find out you don't know as much as you _think _you do" Thana's grin was wide and knowing "now I'll admit you figured out more than _most _people."

Sitting down in his chair once again, Thana crossed one leg over the other as Alex shifts warily as he eyes everything in the room that could kill him "why are you toying with me? Is it because I _beat _you?".

Thana tilted her head to the side as Alex continued his rant, "_I caught you._ I know I can beat you. I've got this cabin rigged to keep me safe" The redhead gazed around the cabin at all his safety measures before pulling a mocking face and nodded with him.

"So I _heard_" Thana sucks her teeth as she lets out a sigh "I have to say I'm hurt at your foul language, I'm just doing the duties that were given to me, and everyone treats me like _I'm _the _bad guy?"._

Alex feels a pang of guilt when the girl frowns sadly until he remembers who she was, she had gotten in his head _again_, the telltale smirk that was starting on her lips made him realize she knew _exactly _how she made him feel.

Clapping her hands on her thighs, Thana stood and walked towards the teenager, so they were face to face. "I'm going to let you play your little game _Alex_, but just know I can have you whenever_ I _want."

The closeness of their mouths confused Alex, the seductive way she spoke, the hand on his face until Thana let out a mocking laugh "I can't _wait _until you figure it out, and when you do there's _nothing _you can do to stop it."

"You can't beat me, _Alex_, I'm inevitable, but I can't say I won't miss your blue eyes fill with fear" the words were spoken against his lips as her eyes turned white. _"There it is," _Thana whispered as her eyes turned back to normal.

"_Please _just stop," Alex whispered back, yet he made no attempt to move from the redheads grasp, if either of them moved just an inch closer, they'd be kissing, but neither of them did, this was just _another _mind game.

Thana grinned as she stepped away from the teen, knowing that she had gotten to him, but he still felt like he was frozen to the spot. "I'll see you _very _soon, Alex, but I've got some business to attend to."

The girl lifted her hand and clicked her fingers together, and suddenly she was gone, Alex finally let out the breath he'd been holding, but he was unsure how he felt, Thana was like a whirlwind and she _definitely _left devastation in her path.

It did make him wonder though, what other business could _Death _be attending to when _he _was next on her list?


	9. n i n e

Standing in the corner of the hospital room, Thana watches neutrally as the small girl lay in the bed peacefully about to take her last breath. Casey Collins had developed leukemia as a toddler and fought hard, but unfortunately for her, it just her _time_.

Thana took a small breath as she watched the parents and staff cry as the girl closed her eyes never to open them again, this was the price of being Death having to watch a child leave this world in such a horrible way, but the was nature, and it was _Thana's _job to keep the balance.

Casey's death was already written and had been for a few years.

There was no escaping it no matter how many rounds of chemo or medication, they could only prolong her life for a little while, and _that's_ why little Casey went so peacefully because they all knew it was her time.

Thana guessed this is what her brother _tried _to understand about her, she was ruthless when it came to getting Sam Lawton and his friends back on the plan, but little Casey got to leave this world in comfort knowing her family would move on in time and she would always be loved.

What Castiel didn't understand was that she had to keep the world's balance, too much war made the world a bad place, but too much peace made it vulnerable. Everything had to be in order, and death was no different.

But how was one able to keep the balance between life and death when the two did everything possible to eliminate the other?

**:::**

Distant thunder echoes loudly inside the cabin, making Alex wonder if the rickety building would stay up in a bad storm, especially when Death is hell-bent on claiming him.

Alex sighs balling up old newspapers and throws them into the fireplace like a game to keep himself busy, he begins to crumble the local news before pausing as a headline underneath a picture of Mrs. Lewton and the crash catches his attention.

**'ABRAHAM HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER DIES IN MYSTERIOUS BLAZE'**  
\- Flight 180 Survivor under suspicion.

He cocks his head as his eye lower to the yearbook pictures of both Christa Marsh and Blake Dreyer, underneath them is another eye-catching title: **"PARENTS TO ESTABLISH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS."**

His expression reflects a terrifying revelation as the puzzle pieces begin to connect in his mind "I never moved," he mumbled to himself as his eyes moved back and forth quickly "Christa asked me to change, but I never moved. I would have been up next to Tod".

Alex hit the floor as he figured out the plan "_Fuck! _Why didn't I remember that? I _never _moved. Clear's seat was in front of mine" as soon as he said those words, a gust of wind blew out the lamp ominously.

_"she's next," _Alex finalized before recalling the talk he had with Thana hours ago and how she laughed in his face about him not really knowing her plan, she _knew _Clear was next.

She wasn't trying to reap him, she was there to taunt him.

_"Fuck you, Thana!"_ Alex shouted out as if the redheaded demon could hear him, she probably could, the blond got to his feet no longer worrying about the object around him "You _won't _get her!".

Alex's eyes widened as the thought of Clear trying to fight off Thana _alone_, what if she had already begun her plan while keeping him in the dark, making him think that he was next.

He had walked straight into _another _mind game, _hell _he had practically given her all the ammo she needs to get into his head.

Alex knew if he could get to Clear before Thana, then he could get his friend skipped, but then Thana would be coming after him._ He needed help. _"Hey, Angel guy? If you're listening, I need your help now-"

The blond waited for a few minutes, but nothing came "- gee thanks, why did you even bother coming to me if you won't help!" Alex hissed as he grabbed his jacket and ran for the door,_ "I'll do this myself."_

**:::**

Thana giggles as she watched Clear light a candle after she caused the lights to go out._ "One candle isn't going to help you, sweet cheeks."_

With Alex up in his little fortress and Castiel missing in action, Thana had free time to play with Clear; the poor girl wouldn't even see her coming just like the others. Thana couldn't help but feel rage when she looked at this teenager, there was just _something _about her.

_However, _Thana would be dusting her hands of Clear soon enough. Feeling her eyes turning cloudy, Thana marked every death possible for Clear Rivers, but she was determined to choose the one that would scare her the most.

_"Time to play Princess,"_ Thana whispered in Clear's ear, frowning when the girl turned her head as if she felt her there "you know Clear I really don't like you, I have no idea why but you feel like a thorn in my side."

Clear glanced out of the window and gasped, seeing her mutt barking at the electric cable Thana had created as it struck the ground creating a whipping noise. _"Really, you're going to save the dog?" _Thana tutted as she already foresaw this death, _"boooooring."_

The teenager quickly put down her candle and threw her coat on as Thana moved across the room, making a gust of wind as she went, subsequently putting out the candle.

Clear's eyes widened in terror as she watched the candle go out "is it _you_," she whispered so quietly that Thana nearly missed it altogether.

The redhead cocked her head and clicked her tongue. _"I see lover boy gave you some handy dandy death tips"_ this information only annoyed the demon more.

Following the teenager outside, Thana watched in amusement as the girl tried to save her dog from the dangerous power line "Prince! Get away from it!" Clear shouts at the helpless mutt who was chained to a tree.

Thana clicked her fingers, and the circular clothesline is whipped by a power line making sparks fly as the base pole snaps in two. The metal poles plunges into the ground just inches from impaling Clear.

She stumbles but quickly steps aside and continues toward the tree as the clothesline is rolled by the winds across the yard toward the above ground pool where the metal rod punctures the side of the pool.

Water streams from the rupture as Clear reaches the tree and begins unfastening the dog's collar from the chain "Hold on!" Clear cries out to the dog as Thana just rolls her eyes at the attempt to save the dog.

_"Oh, you are definitely some kind of vegan or veggie chick, right?" _The demon taunted, raising her eyebrows _"everyone's an expert now. I like my meat still kicking personally"._

The power lines strike one another causing an aggressive flash as the rivets holding the pool frame begin to break and pop open, sending water into the yard. _"Ugh, and here you are with an umbrella or death-proof boots."_

Water floods, pooling the backyard and begins cascading over Clear's feet as a look of realization and fear take over her for a second. _"I really thought you would be more fun to play with,"_ Thana clucked to herself, sitting on a tire swing.

Clear's head whips up, checking the position of the power line which coils, like a cobra, ready to strike at any moment. "Run!" The dog starts to tear off toward the house.

The teenager runs toward the flower lattice leaps and desperately grabs the wood, hanging on, literally for her life. The demon huffs as her eyes roll, turning white as her pupil turns into a terrifying skull _"Bored now."_


	10. t e n

Thana stalks Clear, who hustles through the garage towards a car and quickly scoots into the driver's seat, whimpering to herself at the devastation going on around her, Alex said that Thana was dangerous, but this was _pure _destruction.

Clear realized that Thana was _pissed _and this was her way of showing it, in the back of her mind she reckoned it like a child who couldn't have dessert before dinner or not wanting to take a nap.

She clicks the automatic garage door opener, but it remains motionless, and Thana smiles to herself her eyes now glowing a pure white as fury clashes within side her, her amused smile was now nothing but seething anger.

Thana couldn't pinpoint Clear's death accurately, and that was something that had never happened to the demon before, she had no idea how this would end for the angsty teenager and that had Thana wanting to stomp her foot childishly.

Clear guns the small car in reverse as the rear of the car makes impact with the door the garage opener trembles, the car smashes through the garage door as Thana raises an eyebrow_ "Oh Clear what would mommy and daddy say?"._

The metal arm of the garage door opener rips through the windshield, locking upon the windshield wiper grille. The other end remains attached to the garage roof interior, essentially acting as an anchor.

The car shudders, wheels spinning uselessly, as the arm holds onto the car. Foot to the floor, Clear screams and begs for the car to move just as the door opener motor pulls away from the ceiling.

The car lurches backward, freed from the grasp of the house as a chunk of the ceiling collapses upon Clear's artworks, including the canvas incorporating a jagged piece of debris from Flight 180.

The metal slams to the floor, on top of a can of turpentine, which causes the flammable liquid to stream out toward the driveway. As the vehicle lurches away from the house down the sloped driveway, the power line thuds on top of Clear's car.

An ear-splitting crackle sounds out as the electrical system of the small car erupts, and the engine dies. The car stops instantly; all that could be heard was Clear's heavy panicked breaths as she instinctively looks into the passenger seat and swallows a scream seeing it occupied.

"You know I've been told I'm kinda rough, so maybe she should decide on a safe word?" Thana smirked at Clear's now terrified face, "Or we could do the stoplight system? Green means go!" Thana snapped her fingers as she disappeared from sight.

Bolts of lightning crash down to the ground ripping a scream from the deathly pale Clear who just had first-hand experience of the girl Alex warned her about, she was everything he said, _dangerously perfect._

Clear lets out a cry jumping when a figure appears next to the car window "Don't move! Stay there!" Alex calls out as Clear breathes in relief, "Don't move!" The blond begs as he sees Clear's hand move "Don't touch anything. You're grounded by the tires."

The power line sadistically rests atop the automobile as the exposed end of the cable flutters and whips like a cat's tail, sparking as it hits the ground dangerously close to Alex, who was more focused on the girl in front of him.

Clear looks up desperately to Alex more tears spilling as the power line snaps in his direction. _"Thana!"_ the teenager calls out fury written across his face knowing she was purposing teasing him with the deadly object.

"You called handsome?" The redhead grinned, waving her fingers as if she were greeting an old friend and not standing in the middle of a terrifying situation, one that she had caused and wasn't going to stop until she got what she wanted.

"Stop it, please," the blond said as his blue eyes begged her to stop her acts towards them; frankly Thana was beginning to get disappointed, she had told him over and over this was set and she would reap them, but he wasn't listening.

Too bad, he was just too much fun and the look of fear on their faces was _intoxicating_.

"Stop what?" She tilted her head with an innocent pout, but her eyes, unlike Alex's, were filled with fire. "Oh, you mean this?" the girl clicked her fingers as the stream of turpentine ignited suddenly, and it flowed toward the car.

Alex quickly backs away, eyes locked with Clear's, assuring her that she's safe remaining in the car. "Really?" Thana scoffs as another burst of flames flash, and Alex jumps as he realizes the underbelly of the car has ignited from the stream of combustible fluid.

Clear can see the flames, her instinct is to grab the handle to get out as the fire roars angrily; however, the power line slaps against the car window, and she lets out a shriek, she was trapped if she stayed in the car she burns to death, but if she got out, she'd be electrocuted.

"Mmm choices," Thana giggles as she manically claps her hands, seeing the look on Clear's face, she couldn't see the girls death, but that didn't mean she couldn't improvise every once and a while "checkmate!"

Alex had no idea what to do, and just as everything looked like it was about to get worse, a bright light flashed around them, and the angel he had called for earlier walked towards them his face void of any emotion.

"Castiel," Thana gasped as her brother stalked towards them, sending a glare in her direction she thought he had been dealt with, he had been missing, and her father had promised that he'd deal with the Angel.

"You _need _to stop this" He growled as his trench-coat swung around him, and he looked every part the hero, but Thana wasn't going to give up so easily, this was her job, and she was going to see it through.

"and you know how this works, _brother_" The redhead purred her eyes narrowing dangerously "it's their time Castiel and their souls are marked for _Death_" Thana sneered as she heard a gasp coming from inside the car.

The Angel's eyes shifted slightly before his glare returned "Not like this, you're punishing them for trying to survive" the two stared each other down before Castiel growled out "I'm not going to _let _you get away with this anymore."

It was a deadly battle as the two teenagers looked on, Brother vs. Sister, Angel vs. Demon, _or _even worse when you really know what it was _Life vs. Death._

Thana's eyes lit up at the challenge in her older brother's voice; she hated his goodness, but it was the same goodness her father had before being kicked out of Heaven, and that made her blood bubble even more.

"Let's test that theory," was whispered out as her fingers clicked, and the power line screeched as it thrashed around like a snake looking even more dangerous than before, lightning appeared out of nowhere as the ground began to rumble.

"Clear!" Alex exclaimed frightening as he watched the redhead's eyes glow and her arms raised outwards, the hairs on his neck stood at attention as he felt the tension and power coming from the two entities before him.

Suddenly pure white shot out from Castiel's hands and wrapped around his sister's wrist as she screamed in anger, the white curled around her wrists as if it were rope binding together her limbs.

The ground shook worse the more Thana thrashed and fought, her anger was annihilating, and Castiel knew he needed to get this under control before Thana _lost _her control. She could cause worldwide devastation on a massive scale.

Alex frowned when the ground stopped shaking abruptly, and his eyes glanced towards Thana who was frozen as she watched Castiel, the Angel held an old-looking wooden black box, it was obviously the thing that caused the redhead's sudden submission.

"_Where _did you get that" She growled her eyes staring at the box, it was her seal. If Castiel used it, she would be bound inside the box. It had happened many centuries ago when she first became Death, and her brother decided she needed a time out.

She had seized it from him after that and hidden it with their other brother Balthazar who had a love for ancient artifacts, and Thana knew his hedonism would force him to keep it even if he didn't truly understand what it was.

He was like a magpie for stolen goods, _especially _pretty ones and her seal was dangerously gorgeous.

"You came here to _bind _me, Castiel?" Thana questioned, and her calm tone was anything, but she knew her brother was able to do it and now seeing the look in his eyes that precisely what he was about to do "Let's see if you can save _her _first."

The next few movements were so quick it was almost impressive, Thana lifting her arm her fingers closing together, Castiel opening the box ready to imprison her and Alex throwing himself towards the power lines to save Clear.

**"Invoco Mortem. Te in mea potestate. Defixi. Nunc et in aeternum."**

Thana let out an almighty scream as she materialized into a thick black fog that was sucked into the small box that was held in the angel's hands. _"I'm sorry,"_ he whispered regretfully towards the box.

In another flash of light, he was gone just as an unmarked F.B.I. Vehicle and a sheriff patrol car pull up on the street. Schreck and Weine hustle out of the car just as Clear opens the driver's side door and runs out, knocked to her feet as behind her, the car explodes.

The girl whimpers but gets up as her eyes never leave Alex's prone body, pushing herself from the floor just as the two agents reach her. She drops beside the blond "Alex," she calls, turning over his hands and seeing them completely burnt. _"Oh!"._

"You can't do this to me," She cried out, but nothing happened. "Come on, baby. Come on," she begged before feeling herself being grabbed and pulled from her spot next to the person who saved her so heroically.

The two FBI agents began to work on the blond as his body lay unresponsive and burned, the lasting devastation from the now bound entity showing clearly.

_"Shit, he's not breathing.  
__Hold on, Alex. Come on.  
__Stay with me"._


	11. e l e v e n

**Paris, France – 6 Months Later.**

Sitting in front of Le Cáfe Miro 81 Alex, Clear, and Carter sigh happily watching the Parisian life whiz past them with no worries "Voilà, merci," the waiter said as he placed down their drinks with a smile and a nod when they reciprocated his thank you.

Alex leans back into his chair _"Wow,"_ he breaths out as he looks at Clear "It's weird being here, huh" he questioned, motioning out to Paris "We finally completed a puzzle. It's just there's something missing. You know?"

The blond had spent a fair bit of time in the hospital getting over his injuries and burns but something hadn't stopped nagging at him ever since they had taken down Thana not that he could explain to Clear or Carter.

It was quiet for a beat before Carter lifted up his glass solemnly "to Terri" he spoke softly as he remembered his girlfriend who did nothing to deserve the gruesome and painful death that she received while he was still breathing.

"Yeah, to Tod" Alex quickly agreed taking his glass and lifting it up beside Carters, reminiscing about his best friend that didn't deserve the cruel fate that he received and how he wasn't able to save him in time.

"To all of our friends that can't be here" Clear finalized as she clinked her wine glass against theirs in cheers to the people they had loved and unfairly lost.

Alex watched Carter confused when the dark-haired man started to laugh to himself "What?" he questioned curiously, it was unlike him to laugh after bringing up Terri.

"If you told me 6 months ago that the three of us would be sitting here having a drink..." Carter trailed off as Alex himself began to laugh; 6 months ago, they were at each other's throats daily and Carter probably threaten to beat Alex up more than once.

"I don't know. I mean, sometimes I just feel like the two of you are the only ones who really understand" Carter admitted out loud as he glanced at both Clear and Alex, who nod along with his words knowingly.

A guitarist staring playing a tune as Carter looks at Alex. "You were right, Browning. It did skip us, there was a design" He sighed as he continued, "We beat it, you know? We won" Even after seeing Thana Carter struggle to believe the design of Death, but now he knew for sure.

Clear eyed Carter apprehensively, "I think the only thing we won, Carter, is a chance at a full life," she said finally understanding to not underestimate Death's power.

Every time they thought they could beat Thana she punished them ten times worse "A chance that I won't ever waste."

It was only 6 months down the line, and she grew up a lot, she now trusted her instincts more, and she guessed she did have Thana to thank for that. Having a Demon stalk her, and even more that Demon being Death made Clear cherish her gift of empathy even more.

Having felt what Alex felt on the plane, and all those dark negative feelings whenever Thana was around really helped her understand her role in life and how Death hadn't taken her parents to be spiteful, it was all just part of some bigger design. Not that it hurt any less.

Clear placed her hand into Alex's as he lets out another sigh, "Yeah. There's just something, you know, something I can't figure out," the blond confessed as he went over the same thoughts as he'd been having since coming out of the hospital.

"About what?" Carter shrugged, he'd locked up all those feelings of fear and loneliness in the back of his mind and was now trying to find life after Death. He never really thought about his life after high school, but watching your girlfriend die in front of you puts things into perspective.

"About the design."

Clear huffed at her boyfriend's words, "Alex, just let it go. All right?" but he couldn't let it go he quickly dug around in his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

"I just wa- Just hear me out, all right?" He unfolded the paper to reveal the plane seating plane that he had printed out all those months ago when trying to figure out what Death's design was and how he could try to be one step ahead of Thana.

Before he realized, no one could ever be one step ahead of Thana. Carter dropped back into his seat after recognizing what he was seeing after noticing all their names on the paper. "Oh, my god," he scoffed to himself.

Alex quickly jumps to his own defense after hearing both Carter and Clear's huffs of disbelief. "Just hear me out, okay?" placing the paper on the table, Alex leaned forward. "Now, the path of the explosion determined the order of our deaths, right?".

When neither of the other two spoke up, Alex continued "When I intervened and saved Carter, it skipped him and went to the next person in the path then went to Billy and then it was Clear. But I intervened and saved her, so it went to me".

Clear gazed away from the table, leaving only Carter to listen to Alex's rambling, "But in my case, no one intervened, right?" The teen finally turned her head when Alex directed his attention to her, "I was thrown from that power line by the explosion so..."

Carter interrupted the blonds paranoid rambles with a gruff "So, why did it skip you, right?" His jaw ticked as he fought down his own feelings of paranoia; he didn't have it as bad as Alex did, but his own brush with Death would be with him for the rest of his life.

However long that may be.

Clear side eyed Carter before turning to her boyfriend "How do we know that this isn't exactly what was meant to happen? That out of everyone on flight 180, you, me, and Carter were meant to live?" she desperately wanted to believe that "Maybe that was the design all along."

"Or you could still be next," Carter piped up from his seat, and Alex knew that was more likely, Thana as evil as she was wouldn't have spent her time stalking them and playing with them if she wasn't there to reap them at some point.

_"Shut up, Carter"_

"What? I didn't make up the rules," The dark-haired teen laughed. "Someone's gotta intervene before Death can skip them. Alex proved that 3 times. The plane, me, you".

He smirked as he shrugged, "For all I know, it could circle back and get us all again, but I am the safest fucker in the world because you're still next."

Alex glanced down at the paper when Carter jabbed a finger over his seat back on flight 180, feeling a chill run through his body he quickly looked up and over his shoulder at the guitarist who was playing 'Rocky mountain high.'

Clear argued with Carter, but all Alex could hear was the sound of his blood rushing through his body and his heartbeat that had begun to pound louder against his chest.

"All I'm saying is you said that redhead chick was gone, we beat her Clear. Thana is gone" Carter disputed as Clear ridiculed back at him not to be so cocky.

Alex's head spun as his thoughts began to eat away at the walls he built up and his mantra of Thana being gone- what if she wasn't gone? What if she was still toying with him? "_no-one_ is ever one step ahead of Thana," he mumbled to himself, _"not even us."_

His head moved quickly as he suddenly noticed everything going on around him before a gust of wind knocked Clear wine over the paper, staining his name in dark red. Jumping up from his seat, he backed away slowly "I'm gonna meet you guys back at the hotel, okay?".

Clear watched on in confusion as her boyfriend started to act weird "Just wait, I'll go with you," she offered before Alex shook his head and stopped her from following him.

"No, no. ju- just stay here, okay Clear, just stay here. All right," Alex mumbled, walking past the table as Clear glances at Carter worried about Alex's sudden erratic behavior, maybe talking about Thana wasn't the best idea but she was gone, and they could rest.

"See? It's true. I told you, you were next man". Carter called out uncaring but not harshly; they were all overdue this talk, and somewhere deep down, he knew this thing wasn't over with. Even before listening to Alex's ramblings that made too much sense not to be true.

Clear glared at him scathingly as she moved to pick up her bag. "Stop it, Carter," she hissed, looking over to where her now pale boyfriend was trying to make a quick exit. "Alex, wait," she begged as her bag caught on the bottom of the table.

The blond boy whirled around quickly at the sound of her voice, his expression now full of fear and knowing as he begs her not to move. It was all too much, he could feel the paranoia clawing at his trachea "No, Clear. Just stay there, okay? Stay away"

Another gust of wind forces Clear to look away only to see the vision of a bus through the glass window, and a familiar shiver ran through her body "Alex!" she called out just as he moved to step off the pavement and into an oncoming bus.

Jumping back Alex barely missed being hit by the bus as it suddenly crashed through the small street they had been sat in, everything soon became like a domino effect as objects hit into other objects before the bus collided with the Bistro sign.

The teenager's eyes widened, and he froze in fear as part of the sign broke off, swaying dangerously in his direction "Alex!" He heard Clear shriek before he was thrown to the ground, narrowly missing the sign as it passed him and Carter overhead.

"I told you, you were next!" Carter shouted, pointing down at Alex reminding him of Billy moments before he was killed by Thana, they both had the exact same look of fear written across their faces but also the same expression of fear towards Alex himself.

The chaos in the streets swarmed around them as Alex's eyes widened. "Then it just skipped me," he exclaimed to a now worried Carter who stood over him after having intervened in his death, and now Death was hunting for her new prey.

"So, who's next?" The bistro sign that almost hit Alex swung back just as Carter's face drops in realization _"Oh-" _the sign hits Carter with such a force that his body is instantly crushed, his blood hits Alex's face as he stands up in shock.

He can vaguely hear Clear's cries from the table before a chill washes over his body before he feels a darkness wrap around him and a familiar giggle tickle at his ear where he can almost sense the grin growing on her red lips **_"I'm back!"._**


	12. t w e l v e

Thana giggled to herself as she watched Clear scream as she failed to save Alex on the _7th_ attempt made by her. After Carter's Death, Alex, and Clear ran back home to New York, and Alex didn't leave home for 3 months which tickled Thana to no end.

The Demon _allowed _the teenagers to escape her for a time, with all of them knowing she would be following them wherever they ran to. Alex and Clear both knew there was no escaping Thana, and their deaths would come sooner_ or_ later.

The expression on Alex's face after she returned to reap Carter back in Paris would keep Thana's insides warm for the rest of her years, the shock of his gruesome death and her unexpected return was written all over his face.

She knew what both he and Clear were thinking: _how did Thana escape her prison?_

If you asked Thana, she would spin some kind of tale about her being inevitable _but _the embarrassing truth was her bumbling brother Balthazar had stolen her box back from Castiel and _accidentally _released her back out into the world.

She rewarded him by not letting the angels know that one of their own brought one of the _worst _Demons known back to Earth, but for her other Angel brother she wouldn't be so forgiving, _how dare_ he try and keep her locked up.

With her gone, the job of Death would have fallen to some_ lower-level_ demon, and Thana couldn't have that. _Luckily _for Castiel, he wasn't showing up on her radar, and none of the Angels were feeling particularly talkative.

_So _Thana continued with her job of keeping the natural order of the universe but also getting her design back on track by finding the people whose deaths had been skipped or changed by Alex and his friends.

There are times when the design is difficult, but in the end, breaking the order in even the smallest way can cause untold chaos as shown by the North Bay Bridge and the Flight 180 survivors.

But somehow Alex and Clear kept intervening for each other and cheat death dozen times between them, which only fueled Thana's fury, their proposed deaths only getting more gruesome and harder to escape.

All of Alex's escaped deaths involved explosions of household items as he has still not left the house, and all of Clear's avoided deaths also included explosions, though of things you would find outside for '_variety_.'

Thana was a sucker for trying to keep their deaths, just like how they should have died initially.

Now, _however_, she watched as Alex lay on the ground, his head caved in after being bludgeoned by a loose brick in an alley; a nearby passerby calls an ambulance, which was too late as Alex was killed instantly by the falling masonry.

His death was _embarrassing_, and that's what Thana wanted to show, she wanted to portray her embarrassment of letting two _teenagers_ evade her at every turn, it was Alex who had the vision and put them on this course and so it was _his _fault.

Thana walked closer to Clear as she cried over Alex's body "there, there _little _empath," Thana cooed as Clear's body froze. "You'll be reunited soon," the redhead sniggered as Clear gasped and stood looking terrified.

"So what's it going to be Clear?" Thana questioned as she appeared on a wall behind the teenager who spun around to face her "Drowning? _Electrocution?"_ Thana's smiled dropped as she stood and crept closer to the brunette, "How do _you _want to die?".

The usually strong teenager let out a sob as she backed away from the Demon, her eyes bouncing between her dead boyfriend and Death itself.

"How about something more _normal _then?" Thana clapped as she followed Clear's footsteps slowly like a lioness "Car accident? _Hell_, you live in New York how about dying on the subway?" Thana proposed as if she were giving the offer of a lifetime.

Sirens sounded in the Demons ears as an ambulance stopped just outside the alleyway the two women were having their standoff in, _although _to the paramedics, they just saw one terrified teenager cowering to herself.

Thana watched as the paramedics announce Alex's death before wrapping Clear in an orange blanket, the redhead kicked herself for not quickly getting rid of the empath before she was bundled into the van.

Feeling her eyes cloud Thana hissed seeing there was no way of getting to Clear without killing the two paramedics who both weren't due to die for another 50 years, _lucky them_. All she could do was watch as a black van with coroner written across it and police arrive on the scene.

Death's blood boiled inside of her as her last survivor from Flight 180 was taken from her, _but _she knew they couldn't protect Clear forever, _someone _would mess up soon, they had to release her at some point.

"A _loose _brick" A dark voice drawled as she watched Bludworth kneel by Alex's side as the teenager's skin started to get paler. "That's not like you," he acknowledged as he lowered the bodybag covered gurney to the ground.

"I lost my temper" Was all Thana admitted to as she appeared by his side sitting with her legs crossed, looking very childlike.

"_No_, I've seen you're temper, and this wasn't that," The dark-skinned man said as he moved Alex's body to the gurney carefully as police hovered around the scene, none of them seeing the pouting Demon or his talking to her.

"They were _mocking _me" The redhead hissed as she quickly jumped to her feet, moving face to face with the unbothered man "every plan _ruined_, every death _skipped_," she spat before looking down at the deceased boy "So I taught them a lesson."

Bludworth slowly zipped up the bag as Thana's eyes followed until Alex was no longer in her eye line "no survivors" she taunted her beautiful teal eyes, flicking up at the ferryman "no one crosses me and lives."

Bludworth had found that out the hard way after telling the last group of survivors that they have to kill someone to gain their remaining days on Earth, that clause of life was just something that Thana did for fun.

No one had knowingly done it until Bludworth let the secret out and Peter Friedkin had shot Agent Block killing him instantly, he was soon killed by Sam, so that cleaned itself up pretty nicely.

"Don't worry, Bludworth, I killed him cleanly for you. Now his parents can have an _open _casket," Thana joked as she patted the black bag with a grin "that's more than the rest of them got."

Watching Billy's head being reattached was more than amusing for Thana, she sat in the examination room as Bludworth tried his best to keep Billy's head attached to his body while scolding Thana for making his job harder.

"You know I'd _love _to stay and chat, but I have a survivor to _kill..._" Thana's ears started to ring as her senses began to go haywire. That only happened when someone was cheating their deaths, but that couldn't be right; she already knew all the people who had diverted from the plan.

_"Gotta go"_ was all Thana said as she clicked her fingers and appearing to a large urban park where her senses were directing her to, but when she got there, nothing was out of place, no one was screaming nor was anyone in distress.

In fact, this place wasn't due a death for another few weeks when a jogger will be accidentally knocked down by a car when leaving the area, Thana glanced around before realizing that the alerting in her sense had disappeared.

Giving the area one more look over, Thana raised her eyebrow in confusion. "Hmm looks clear to me," she spoke to herself when not seeing anything Death worthy before repeating her words _"...Clear?"._

Gritting her teeth, it suddenly hit her like a freight train _"Castiel,"_ closing her eyes, she tracked her brother only coming up empty once again, growling she tracked the teenager and her eyes sprung open when she found her.

Clicking her fingers Thana followed the humans through the halls as they calmly walked a numb looking Clear to a room at the end of the hall, there was nothing Thana could do but watch as they opened the door for Clear to enter.

"Don't worry, dear, you are going to be _perfectly _safe here" A nurse told the teenager who sat on the small cot as her body shook in fear, the badge on her chest read **'Stonybrook Institution Psychiatric Treatment Center'.**

The two nurses watched the young girl in pity before closing the door gently.

Thana's eyes clouded with a skull before they narrowed, blue returning once again, one eye twitched as she watched the brunette sit frozen on her bed. If she hated Clear Rivers before, she now despised the loathsome human.

_"This is not over. No one escapes me"._


	13. T H I R T E E N

Thana calmly sat on top of an electronic road sign as she breathes in the air everything had been going smoothly since her run-in with Alex and Clear, although the girl was still stuck in the asylum as an inpatient Thana knew she could be patient.

The redhead peered down at the passing car with a morbid smile "Oh _another _30 years, lucky you" she acknowledged "_Oh dear _you're not so lucky, enjoy the next few months and I'll be seeing you _real _soon" her little game continued for a while.

Soon, however, a familiar set of people enter her field of view and Thana grins as she tries to push down the annoyance she felt for the small group of people who had no idea they'd helped fuck up the most important design of the universe.

After the second group of survivors being killed off, there were a lot of conspiracy figures on her ass, claiming to know something about her design. Thana had seen a guy on the TV of a person she had reaped not too long ago talking about her, well about _'Death'._

Everyone thought she was some sort of ominous force, an unseen malevolent presence and they were partly right but if only they knew the truth about the universe they lived in.

_"And that's what I want people to understand...that Death has this grand design that we all fit into. So when Alex Browning got off that plane and took the other survivors with him, he basically screwed up Death's plan. And that's what I'm trying to warn people about"._

At first, Thana was pissed at the interview, how is it these humans are getting more and more open to her world but the more she had watched she realized it didn't matter what they thought they knew because her job was simple.

She is the _Grim Reaper_, the most _badass _entity to walk the earth and nothing could stop her from doing what she was born to do. That's why she was here carefully perched about the humans and waiting patiently for her time to shine.

The stage was set, everything is _exactly _where it should be and Thana had the best view of the plan she had set in motion. Everything would be back to normal after today, no more _'survivors' _just a clean slate and meticulous design.

A yellow school bus with rowdy football players tackling each other, yelling "Pile up! Pile up! Pile up!" passes by and Thana almost licks her teeth in anticipation at the chaos that is about to ensue.

Car honks get Thana's attention back from the school bus and she frowns watching as the red SUV suddenly pulls forward to block the rest of the cars from moving on to the highway. _That _wasn't supposed to happen.

A state patrol car cruises up the shoulder of the onramp and Thana can't believe what she's seeing when he gets out of his car **_"No! No" _**she grits her teeth as he walks towards the red SUV and motions for the girl to get out.

Thana gets to her feet scowling **_"This can not be happening"_** clicking her thin fingers Thana finds herself standing beside the cop and the crying girl. **_"You two were supposed to die last year, I was nice enough to give you more time but don't push me" _**the redhead seethed not that they could hear her.

"That's it!" Kimberly Corman shrieks as Thana turned her head at the same time as the officer did and saw the log truck "That's the truck that's going to kill everybody. You need to stop that truck!".

The Demon spun back to face the young girl as she sobbed, her eyes narrowed as she took in Kimberly's form with a knowing eye **_"Oh great, another one_"** she hissed annoyed at yet another visionary to cross her path.

Somehow her brother had managed to spread his gift of _'sight'_ to another human, how wonderful, even when he was nowhere to be found he was still fucking up her design but that only made Thana wonder how many more humans had been blessed with the gift.

Suddenly a series of crashed and explosions ring out in the distance. It's never-ending and horrific but to Thana it was _beautiful_, the only thing that would have made it better would be for the other drivers to be in the crash.

Kimberly's face crumbles as she watches the destruction happening but Thana can't take her eye of the brunette, hoping that she would be unfortunate not to move in time. However just as before another person rips her away from her impending death just in time.

Office Thomas Burke throws himself and Kimberly to the ground as the semi-truck plows into the red SUV dragging the now ball of flames down the highway as Kimberly screams in horror at her friends' demise.

**_"Well you win some, you lose some"_** Thana spoke before her whole demeanor darkened slightly** _"but I never lose"_** she eyes the rest of her new survivor group tight-lipped, she wouldn't let it get out of hand again not like last time.

**_"I'm going to make you all suffer"_** Thana hissed spitefully as her eyes filled black, her inner Demon rearing its ugly head at the pure anger she felt at having to do this again. Yet she felt a sick happiness at the game of cat and mouse that was about to ensue.

_"No survivors" _the Demon crooned as a cold air swept over the area and each survivor visibly shivered despite the warm weather, this time they had no chance. No angel was lurking about, no ferryman with a big mouth and no idea how to avoid Death.

**_"One, two, Thana's coming for you"_**


	14. F O U R T E E N

A look of disgust crossed Thana's features as she walked around the small apartment_** "Really Evan, you win the fucking lottery and this is what you spend it on?"** _the demon questioned rhetorically as she eyes the bags and other expensive new items.

**_"Greed is a sin"_** she giggled before her nose wrinkled again_** "I've seen pigs live in cleaner places" **_she muttered watching the blond man scuttle about the apartment as music blared out of a stereo.

Watching him getting ready to cook she clicked her fingers as a plastic magnet dropped into his Chinese takeaway box before it was placed into the microwave.

Thana leaned over the man's shoulder after he pressed play on the voicemail machine and started going through his newest spends **_"Hmm, nice watch. A little gold for my liking"._**

The redhead snorted as she glanced at the blingy watch _**"something like that can get you into a lot of trouble in this neighborhood".**_

Thana pouted as she sat on the counter next to the sink_** "Now I'm just trying to look out for you Evan"**_ however the evil glint in her eyes dominated the innocent pout on her face.

Her true intentions could never truly be hidden _**"Don't worry I've got my eye on you"**_

"Yeah" Evan grinned looking over his new watch as various women's voices played over the machine but the blond paid it no mind, putting his hand in the bag he pulled out a large gold ring with diamond-studded horseshoe encrusted on it.

Thana let out a loud snort _**"You'll need more than a horseshoe to get out of this one pal"**_ the female taunted as she clapped her hands _**"there are no seers here to help you my friend, no one to help you escape the inevitable".**_

Suddenly a loud bang came from the microwave as it started to spark, Evan gasped and looked towards the appliance before it let out another bang forcing him back as he dropped the gold ring.

"You little bastard" the blond muttered as he put his hand down into the garbage disposal to retrieve his jewelry.

_**"Oh Evan, you're make this so easy" **_Thana sighed happily and almost affectionately_** "if only everyone was as easy to reap as you"**_ other than escaping his death on the highway Thana had no real grudge against the man, not like she did for Clear and five of the other survivors.

Hearing a clank Thana glanced down as Evan tried pulling his hand from the sink but his watch was stuck _**"Now I hate to tell ya, I told ya so but-" **_Evan began to panic when the microwave sparked more and the food in the frying pan began to burn.

_**"Hmm choices, choices-" **_Thana giggled as she surveyed the apartment _**"-so we've got a fire, electrocution, or... Ooh! I could turn the disposal on for an at-home amputation?" **_The glee on Thana's face was unmistakable.

The rock music playing on increase Thana's glee as she watched Evan struggle _**"Wow talk about your background music being so appropriate"**_ Death nodded her head to the music as she watches the blond reach for a dishcloth to knock the now flaming frying pan.

**_"Wow, you totally remind me of someone right now" _**Thana deadpanned as she watched him swat the pan to the ground causing the fire to sweep across the ground _**"Oh yeah, total throwback Thursday. Am I right?".**_

If Evan's hair could turn white from fear he'd be platinum by now as he desperately fought with his watch and trying to free himself from the sink "Fuck!" he shouted as the fire alarm began to melt from the heat of the flames now licking up the walls.

Thana moved to sit on the coffee table as the fire grew bigger**_ "You'll be fine Evan because you have an-"_** her head tilted to read the boxes** "- iMac. It's not a new apartment with a working fire system but I'm sure you really needed it".**

Hearing a click Thana notice Evan has now got his hand free and he quickly grabs a fire extinguisher from under the sink but the foam soon runs out having done nothing to tame the fire "Come on! Come on! Come on! _Ahh!_" the man hisses throwing down the metal canister and runs for the windows.

Thana throws out a hand as one window closes itself and does the same with the opposite hand as the other window closes **_"You know it's the terrified look on people's faces that really keep me going."_**

Evan begins to tug on the window but it's not budging, he picks up the table and throws it across the room _**"Oh Evan! All your lovely new things!"**_ Thana pouted with ridicule as she crossed her legs watching the man pick up a chair and smash the window before climbing out.

The flames let out a loud explosion as the redhead grinned clicking her fingers teleporting to the ground outside just as Evan climbed on the ladder _**"Jump sweetie, I'll catch you" **_Thana giggled as the man struggled with the escape ladder _**"Come on, it'll be romantic".**_

Evan bounces up and down on the ladder trying to get to the floor when the ladder suddenly unlatches dropping the blond to the ground safely "_Aah!_ Shit, I'm lucky" he says glancing back up at the ladder.

_**"Mm not really,"**_ Thana says as the corners of her mouth turn up knowingly.

The blond man takes a step forward on to the spaghetti he threw out of the window earlier, his legs shoot out from under him and he lands on his back on top of the glass from the broken window _"Aah!"_

_**"Oh no, are you okay?"**_ Thana asks mockingly as she tried to tamper down her smile, things were so much easier when no busybodies were trying to fuck up her plan.

A thought came to Thana and she suddenly had no time for Evan _**"Sorry, playtime is over I've got more special people to find".**_

Thana clicked her fingers as the rusty ladder suddenly dislodges and hurls downward going right for Evan's face but stops halfway_ "Jesus Christ!"_.

Evan lets out a laugh breathing a sigh of relief**_ "Okay, that really was my scare. I promise" _**suddenly the ladder plummets impaling him through his eye socket.

**_"Ooh, now you see me and now you don't" _**The redhead jeered before her mouth turned down _**"Well that's a lie. You never saw me but 'eye' had my eye on you"**_ She let out a loud laugh and smacked her own leg.

_**"Why do I always get punny when there no-one around to appreciate how funny 'eye' am" **_Her eyes widened in surprise at her own sudden joke _**"Ooh and they just keep on coming,"**_ She said to the now-dead Evan as his one eye stared up at nothing.

**_"So, eye'll see you soon?"_** Thana grimaced as she nodded to herself in acceptance_** "Okay that one was a stretch but I'll work in it. Gotta go now Sweetface. More people to find and then kill".**_

Thana's aura darkened as she clicked her fingers leaving the lone body of Evan Lewis impaled to the ground.


	15. F I F T E E N

Thana grinned at the sight of the young woman in front of her while looking different than the last time the Demon saw her she bears few traces of her former self, her teenage features have matured in the time they've spent apart.

Her eyes dart around suspiciously, her hair is unkempt, and her eyes look dark and haunted. Her movements are stoic, self-protecting, as if waiting for something unseen.

Something, or _somebody_.

Thana's eyes are pulled away from Clear as she sees what is on the far wall: a shrine to flight 180. The wall is papered with articles about all the survivors but also some scribbles about _Death _and the_ 'signs'._

The redhead's name isn't seen on the notes; she is only stated as _Death_.

Thana moved about the padded room unnoticed as Clear and the new Seer, _Kimberly_, talk about the plan. They already figured out the latest state of the design, but just as it didn't worry her when Alex figured it out, she wasn't worried this time either.

"Watch out for the signs," Clear finally said as both Kimberly and Thana glanced at the blonde in shock, albeit a different kind of shock. Thana's jaw ticked as she realized Clear was about to reveal the very thing that helped Alex thwart her every move.

Clear sighed and crossed her arms. Her whole aura showed her reluctance to help. "Have you ever seen anything creepy or ominous? An in-your-face irony kind of thing?" Thana finally saw the crack in Clear's mask, she was broken beyond repair.

That was _bad_.

Not because it made Thana feel guilty that she had stalked and traumatized the human, but if Clear had nothing to lose, then she would be more willing to help the new batch of survivors.

"The songs on the radio," Kimberly gasped as her eyes darted around "Yeah, the guy in the beer truck, everything on the road" The shorter woman finalized in surprise as Thana's eye twitched at the revelation of the signs.

"Well, don't ignore it. Recognizing those signs usually means the difference between life and death. They're being sent to you for a reason" Clear's eyes moved over to the wall. "It's the only way to stop her," The blonde mumbled to herself.

_"Her?"_ The brunette questioned, looking confused as Clear's eye widened for a split second before her mask of indifference slipped back "Who's her? _Clear?_ You got to help me," Kimberly called out desperately.

"I don't _have _to do anything" Clear shook her head, taking a step back from the other woman whose face fell at Clear's words.

A smirked graced Thana's face as the two women began to raise their voices at each other when Clear refused to come out of her padded heaven to help the new survivors_** "Poor Clear, are you scared?"**_ Thana giggled as she sat cross-legged on the small bed.

Clear pounds on the door button apparently done with Kimberly, who looks devastated as she turns to leave, before summoning the courage to turn back to face Clear, "I think you're a coward. You hide out in here because you're too damn bitter and selfish to help any other person".

The blonde stands un-moving as the brunette eyes her in disgust. "In my opinion, you're already dead" Clear just waves her fingers mockingly as Kimberly storms out of the room as the door slowly closes with a puff of air.

Thana glances towards the screen as Kimberly turns to flip off the camera in one last attempt to piss Clear off. "I like her," Thana claps when Clear sighs at the gesture before her whole body stiffens, hearing the redhead's voice. "_Well_, not really, but I love a dramatic exit."

_"Thana"_ Clear almost whimpers as her back continues to face the Demon that's been haunting her dreams for the past year, she makes no move to turn or speak to the Demon.

"Is that really how you treat a _guest_, Clear?" Thana giggles as she plays with the ends of her hair. "_Especially _when we haven't seen each other in so long," the mocking was apparent in Thana's voice, but so was the pout.

Clear's hands twitched before she spun around her expression fierce "You did it again," she spat out, feeling furious. "Wasn't it enough that you did it on flight 180? Now you're going to kill all these innocent people_ again!"._

Thana's face was void of any emotion before a small smile grew on her face. "You should quieten down Clear, you wouldn't want people to think you're crazy," the girl laughed, twirling her finger in a circle by her head mockingly.

The Demon stood up from the bed slowly as Clear subtly backed away "Do you really think you'd be the only one?" she giggled turning her head a little "I thought you understood by now Clear, it's what I do, and _nothing _is going to stop me."

"What about Castiel?" The blonde questioned as the atmosphere in the room sharpened for a moment as Thana's eyes narrowed dangerously. "_Oh_, I get it, you still haven't found him" Clear was now the smug one as she let out a laugh crossing her arms, stepping forward.

Thana took a small step back eyeing the human carefully "He was the one who sent those signs to Kimberly, he's helping us again" a flash of anger ripped through the redhead who merely clenched her jaw "and there's no way for you to stop it."

A huff of annoyed laughter came from the Demon, whose body no longer held any sign amusement. "Castiel will screw up at some point, and I'll be there to catch him when he does, _but _until then, I have things to do. You just stay in your pretty little fortress Princess, I'll be back for you".

Thana rolled her eyes as she dismissed Clear before turning back with a wicked smile "Kimberly's right though, you are already dead. You _think _I can't get to you in here?" sharp laughed escaped Thana when Clear's eyes darted around.

"I could have gotten you anytime I wanted," Thana sneered as she opened her arms wide towards the newspaper clippings. "_For example_, you go to reminisce about all your friends' deaths and _oh no_" Thana's hand slap to her cheeks dramatically.

"You've suddenly got a paper cut. That small cut develops necrotizing fasciitis, which then leads to sepsis, shock, and organ failure" Thana's eyes turn dark as she continues "Then before you know it you're in a coma and your limbs have been chopped off."

Clear gulps, but she can't do anything; she can only listen as Thana's energy darkens and makes her feel sick inside, "and even then, your rate of life isn't good. 2 in every 5 cases are fatal Clear and I have a sneaky feeling you'd be one of those two".

All of Thana's teeth were on display due to the wide grin she was wearing, "and don't get me started on your cctv monitor. You know the smallest of electrical sparks can cause a fire Clear, and something tells me these aren't fireproof" Thana taps the white pads that surround the room.

Suddenly a few sparks emit from the monitor as Clear screams backing away from the small screen in terror, throwing herself into the corner of the room and curling into herself as only Thana's voice could be heard. "I'll see you _soon_, Clear."

The room plunges into total silence as the blonde woman braves a look through her hands, there was nothing there. Thana was gone and the electricity that felt so real was nowhere to be seen.

She had let Thana get into her head again.

She thought this time around would be different, but she still wasn't prepared for Death, and if she wasn't ready, then Kimberly and the others stood no chance.


	16. S I X T E E N

Hearing a bang and a crash in the waiting room, Thana smiled as the dentist quickly left Tim unattended to check out the screaming voices of the only two people in the room.

The Demon smirked when the lights flickered for a moment before a hiss came from one of the two tanks next to Tim's chairs as the oxygen mixes into the laughing gas, meaning the laughing gas would be pure when he breathed it in.

A small gasp came from the young boy as his eyes became unfocused, he couldn't do anything but stare up above him, Thana followed his gaze and smiled seeing the aquatic toys**_ "Cute"_** she sniffed before clicking her fingers.

Suddenly one of the toys dropped from the string and into Tim's open mouth where the teenager would be unable to remove it himself.

Thana kicked her legs back and forth as she watched Tim struggling to breathe with the plastic blowfish toy stuck in his mouth._** "Aw poor baby, where's your mommy now" **_The redhead sniggered as a tear rolled down Tim's cheek.

_Poor Timmy _was stuck at a hypothetical fork in the road, if he took a breath through his nose, he would inhale more laughing gas and make him lose more consciousness, and he wasn't able to breathe oxygen through his mouth which was suffocating him.

Watching the boy slowly slip away, Thana clicked her fingers and subtly sat in the chair next to Nora's after the older female had wrangled the bird that had broken through the window earlier.

Thana smiled when the woman's eyes widened for a second, seeing the redhead sat in the waiting room as if she realized the girl had seemingly appeared from nowhere. "Hello," Nora greeted politely as Thana just smiled widely.

She watched as the dentist walked back into the room and going behind the desk as Thana turned to gaze at the older Carpenter.

"Did you know there is a myth that when a bird hits your window, then somebody you know is going to die but also according to some superstitions; a bird being inside a building means that someone in the building will die."

Thana grinned when Nora turned to her in a silent shock. "It's like _fate_, right?" The redhead said with a laugh knowing that the woman wouldn't understand her words for another 30 minutes or so.

The dentist's assistant glances at Thana with a mixture of polite smiles and confusion "I'm _sorry_, do you have an appointment?" The Demon just shook her head as she stood, giving Nora one last grin.

"_No_, wrong place," Thana told the assistant politely, seeing Tim and the dentist coming out of the room. Thana quickly made her exit only looking back to laugh at how pale the younger boy was,_** "but the right time."**_

* * *

Nora and Tim, who was looking much better now, walk out of the Ellis medical complex. "What did he say about your tooth?" Nora asks her son, who is quick to shrug his shoulders and wave off her question.

"I can't remember."

The construction crew was working around them just as loudly as they were up in the dentist's office, but from across the mall, Kimberly and Thomas's running figures could be heard in the distance, pointing and screaming.

_"Nora!-"_

_"-The pigeons!"_

The older woman shook her head, confused as Kimberly and Thomas continued to run closer to the mother and son "What?_ Pigeons?" _Tim quickly jumps towards the flock of pigeons scaring them into flight.

"Hey, whoa, whoa!" As Tim passed the orange cones and warning signs, the members of the construction crew began to yell out at him, "Kid,_ kid!"_

Some of the birds fly above a construction worker in a crane, and he accidentally hits a lever with his elbow, causing a heavy glass pane to fall towards the street below _"No-oo!"_ Kimberly screams as Thomas holds her in his arms.

When Nora tries to save Tim, a construction worker pulls her back, saving her as she screams her son's name with a painful shriek, "Tim!_ Look out!"_ Tim looks up just as the pane falls on him and crushes him to death. "No! _Please_, no!"

Thana moves from around the pillar she was stood with a rare surprised look on her face _**"Wow Kimbo, keep up the good work"**_ she clapped her hands sarcastically as people began to flock to the area **_"at this rate you'll be doing my job for me."_**

The Demon narrows her eyes at the now sobbing brunette as she's pulled away by another one of her marked souls as the sounds of Nora's screaming, the crowds shocked chatter and the flapping of wings fill the air.

Kimberly had obviously seen _something _to bring her here, she knew the kid was next on the list, but it was the pigeons that Kimberly was worried about. The woman _misread _the sign she was given and was inadvertently the catalyst of Tim's death.

Thana smirked as she moved from sight, maybe she could use that piece of knowledge to her advantage, both Kimberly and Thomas didn't have a clue what they were up against.

Did that mean Clear was still in her padded castle? Was she too _afraid _to come out and face the big bad wolf?.

Stepping closer to a payphone, Thana picked up the receiver and clicked her fingers before hearing a ringing noise,_ "Hello, Stonybrook Institution Psychiatric Treatment Center."_

_"Hi, this is Kimberly Corman, I visited Clear Rivers earlier, and I just wanted to see if I could schedule another meeting with her?"_ hearing 'Kimmy's' voice coming out of her mouth made Thana grimace.

_"Oh, I'm sorry, but Miss Rivers checked out not long after you left" _The receptionist voice cheerfully informed her as Thana's blood began to boil.

_"Bitch!"_

The voice on the other end paused as if checking to see if that angry profanity was actually what she heard as her voice raised an entire octave _"Excuse me? Miss Corman, we don't take that kind of-"._

Thana pulled a face as she huffed into the receiver as she held her palm up against the payphone reading it "Can it Becky, I'll be seeing you in three years" the redhead growled back to her normal voice as she slams the phone in anger.

If Clear was out, then she was going straight to Kimberly, and soon the precious new seer would know everything about Thana, her plan, and everything she had put Clear and her friends through.

**_"Damn humans, why won't they just let me kill them?"_** Thana pouted as she moved back into the crowed unseen by anyone before looking down at the smashed glass and the Carpenter boy's body with a pout_ **"I didn't even get a witty pun in this time."**_


	17. S E V E N T E E N

Clear, Kimberly, and Thomas stand outside the morgue as the brunette explains about Tim Carpenter's death and that she tried to follow the signs just as Clear had told her to, but instead of saving Tim, he ran straight into the path of death.

"I just don't understand it, Clear. I saw the pigeons, I followed the signs, but it just made things worse," Kimberly said to the blonde as her tears began to dry, but the guilt was still felt raw.

Clear said nothing as she led the other two into the mortuary; the signs had never been wrong before. Castiel sent them to Alex to help them from being killed by Thana, someone Clear would love to forget, but the redhead would never go away, not until they were dead.

The mind games that Thana had played with her in the hospital was just a little reminder of how dangerous the Demon actually was, and something told Clear that Thana would be gunning for her after what happened last year.

_No survivors._

That was Thana's motto, and yet here she was surviving and now hopefully helping another group of people do what she and Alex had tried to do. Clear knew that after this trip, she would have to tell Kimberly all about Thana, and she wasn't looking forward to it.

"How is this guy going to help us anyway?" Thomas questions as he and Kimberly follow Clear, she hadn't told them much about the guy they were meeting, but if he could help them, then he was all for it.

"He seemed to know a hell of a lot more about Death than he ever told us," was all Clear said. Still, she had a suspicion that the mortician knew Thana closer than he was letting on. Even when she and Alex visited him, he hinted a knowing Thana personally.

Clear reached for the door handle as Thomas chimes in, "Shouldn't we knock first?"

The blonde just gives him an emotionless face at his worried tone but then remembered he was a police officer, and being just was his thing while breaking and entering was hers. "He probably already knows we're coming."

The other two share a look before following Clear into the creepy looking mortuary underneath the funeral home owned by the very man they were going to see.

The three survivors walk through the stone hallway until they reach a room, which was connected to a freezer room than was lit in a bright red. Clear couldn't help herself as she began to walk closer to the freezer room only to jump when the furnace flames lick at her.

A familiar feeling rose in her chest as she glanced back towards the room; she knew she had felt it before but couldn't place it. Following her gut, she moved closer to the room again, and this time she jumped back when a pair of pale legs rolled towards her.

"Hello, Clear" The smooth deep voice of William Bludworth greeted as he pushed the dead body into the room they were stood in. "I've been expecting you," he grinned knowingly at the blonde as she just stared at him.

"Oh my God," Kimberly gasped as she looked down at the body on the metal table. She recognized him from the interrogation room and her vision. He was the guy that burned to death. She could still hear his screams when she closes her eyes.

"That's Evan Lewis," Thomas muttered as he too looked down at the dead man.

"Come to pick my brain?" The mortician questions Clear with a sense of familiarity that had the other two wondering how well the two know each other; Bludworth seemed to be at ease around Clear but not so much the other way around.

"Just a simple question, and we'll leave you alone with your new friend," The empath sassed as she nodded towards Evan's slightly purplish body, which was about to be cremated.

Bludworth leaned in close to Kimberly, whose eyes widened at his expression "Dead...yet still fresh," he laughed, sounding peppy as his shoulders jumped up; he must really love his job.

Clear sighed, having already been in the man's presence before, his actions weren't shocking to her. "Look, we drove a long way to get here, so if you happen to know how to stop Her, it would be really great if you told us.".

The smile dropped from the dark-skinned man's face as he gave Clear a look. "You can't cheat Death. You know that" the double meaning wasn't lost on Clear, and now she knew for sure Bludworth knew Thana "There are no escapes."

That familiar saying sent shivers down the woman's spine "_Bullshit_. You told me Death has a distinct design, But Alex and I cheated Death, not once but dozens of times. The design is flawed, it can be beaten".

For a moment, Clear tensed, almost expecting an angry Thana to pop up at her words, she remembered Alex telling her how offended the Demon had once gotten when he swore at her and mocked the design.

"Such fire in you now," Bludworth grinned as he places a hand on Clear's chin as the blonde backed away in terror disguised as repulsion. "People are always most alive just before they die. Don't you think?".

The three survivors look on in disgust as the mortician pulls out Evan's nipple ring with a pair of pliers without even blinking before pushing the metal table into the incinerator where the flames instantly danced around the deceased man's body.

Bludworth begins to whistle, walking away when Kimberly grabs his arm. "Look, _please_..." the mortician glances at the young woman expressionless, "if you know of anything that could help us, what harm could it do?"

"Only new life can defeat Death" the vagueness of his answer confused them, but it was more than they had before.

"What the _hell _does that mean?" Thomas questioned as Bludworth continued to stare a Kimberly as if he could see straight through her and right down into her soul. _Maybe he could?_

"Some people say there's a balance to everything. For every life, there's a death, and for every death, there is a life. But the introduction of life that was not meant to be, that can invalidate the list, force Death to start anew." His eyes flickered to Clear as if trying to get her to read between the lines.

"Thana _is _balance Clear, but sometimes balance can be tipped. The world is a diagonal, and she is the balancing point," The blonde frowned, trying to think of what he wasn't saying instead of what he was.

The dark-skinned man reached forward to pick up the necklace pendant from Kimberly's chest as he looks it over. "You have to follow the signs, _Kimberly_," he tells her while her eyes open wide in fear.

"How do you know my name?" The man just gives a deep baritone laugh before he turns and walks back into his freezer, abruptly ending their talk. Clear motioned for them to leave as they make their way back out to the car.

Kimberly timidly looked towards the blonde as Thomas stood beside her. "Who's Thana, Clear?" The other woman's head shot up at Kimberly's question. She gave a small sigh before stretching out her neck.

It was time to tell them _everything_.

"This is going to sound strange, but after everything you've seen so far, I think you'll understand," Thomas and Kimberly share a look as Clear continues.

"Thana _is _Death," pausing for a moment to glance around her, she explained who Thana was to the pair.

"Alex told me she appeared to him one night when the death started happening, she was toying with him. She enjoyed watching him trying to save everyone when she knew it wasn't going to be possible" Clear sniffed, remembering everyone who had died.

"She was furious when we survived our deaths and began stalking each of us. The longer we survived, the angrier she became, and the worse the deaths were except for Alex, she made his so simple, almost mocking him in a way".

Thomas blinked slowly as he tried to take in everything the blonde was saying, but it was so hard to believe even after everything they had been through. "You're telling me that Death, the thing, the entity of the end of life is actually a _girl?"._

Clear's face changed instantly. "_Don't_ mock her, she's much more than just a girl. We made that mistake too. Thana has a list, Death's list, and she creates the design of our deaths. When we all survived, her list changed, and we were all added to a new list".

Kimberly's eyes flickered around as she also tried to come to terms with what Clear had told them, "So how are you alive?".

The blonde's eyes saddened for a moment.

"I thought locking myself away would keep her from me, but all this time she was just toying around with me, she hates that I stopped her so many times, she's probably planning something extra painful for me," she joked lightly, feeling the tense atmosphere.

"How did you beat her?" Thomas asked, now taking Clear's words more seriously after hearing her talk, and this Thana girl wasn't someone he wanted to meet. They needed to know how to stop her.

_"I didn't," _Kimberly and Thomas gave her a questioning look. "Thana's brother Castiel is an Angel, he managed to lock her away for a little while, but she came back worse than ever He's the one who sent Alex those visions in the first place, and my guess is he's sending them to you too."

Kimberly had a brief look of hope in her eyes. "Well, where is he? Why can't he lock her away again?".

Clear bit her lip as she glanced around again, habitually looking for clues or dangerous situations as she tried to let the other woman down gently. "We don't know, he disappeared after Thana got free, but if you're still getting visions, then he's still helping us."

* * *

Thana watched as Evan's body burned in the incinerator; as Bludworth exited the freezer room with a new body, he didn't seem shocked to see the redheaded Demon in his domain.

The orange from the fire cast an orange tone over Thana, making her hair seem brighter, but that could just be from the merriment of watching one of the survivors burning, the way he was supposed to originally.

"I told them what you wanted," the dark-skinned ferryman expressed without facing the Demon as he removed some debris from the body of the young adult male that Thana had reaped and who soul he had taken.

Thana only glances up at the taller man with a face full of terrifying glee. "_See_, you can take orders, I thought we were going to have another episode like we did before," the girl smirked as Bludworth remembered the scolding he received after helping Alex.

"Clear seems different this time," The man mentioned as Thana's hackles raised at the sound of the other woman's name. "I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but she had this _aura _around her too."

"The stench of Death, maybe?" Thana joked as she twirled around to move about the stone room. "Clear Rivers is just a dot on my radar, Charon. She is _nothing_" the gritting of her teeth spoke more than her blatant lie did.

"I have more things to worry about than Clear. I need to find Castiel – _kill him_, find all those little seers that he's been making – _kill them_ and be back in time for tea with my Father in Hell." the cheerful tone in Thana's voice was only slightly chilling.

Clapping her hands together, Thana was oddly chipper today, considering all the work she had to do. "_Now_, if you'll excuse me, I have a grieving mother to find. _Oh_, and by the way, nice watch" her grin was the last thing to disappear as she teleports away.

Bludworth watches the spot where the Demon once stood before glancing down at the body of the young male; pulling down his chin to open his mouth, he grinned to find a shiny coin glinting back up at him, _"an obol from everyone who makes the downward journey." _


End file.
